So I am reading a book right now that I have mixed emotions about. I was trying not to let it get to me but I guess it did since I was sitting here reading and Brad just asked me a question and all of a sudden I started bawling. The book I am reading is Kite Runner. I'm not going to say a lot about it but I will tell you that it's about a boy who grew up in Afghanistan and the hardships that he's faced and the hardships that his people have faced. I'm not going to suggest this book as a must read to anyone. I wont however tell anyone not to read it. If you want to go ahead. I'm not finished but I will be by the end of tonight. This book deals with one of my biggest fears in life, (not the fear of driving off a bridge into water..... I know good thing I live in a desert right?) but the fear of corrupt leaders. Whenever I watch a movie or read a book where the people in charge are corrupt it makes my heart hurt. When Bruce Wayne comes back to Gotham city and sees the way it is being run and how the police are not only allowing the crime but they are contributing to the crime it makes me so happy to live where I do in the circumstances that I do. Yes, America has it's problems but at least I feel safe and I have a loving family to love and care for me. The hardest thing about this book is that it's true. It's about things that really are happening in the world. It makes it that much harder to read.
So since I'm finishing it tonight does anyone have any good happy fiction to suggest?
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
new parking lot
This isn't any big news I just wanted everyone to know because I'm really happy. They just redid the asphalt in our parking lot. It was really bad before and the new managers actually care about the condition of the apartments so he got the owner to agree and now it's wonderful and smooth. Too bad we're moving exactly one month from today.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Theater in the Desert!!
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love that my husband will go to plays with me and actually enjoy them! This week was girls weekend in Cedar City. But it was even better than last year cause Brad came! He managed to survive the week with my mom, my sister and I and he even had fun. He says that being the only boy with 3 sisters prepared him to be able to handle sharing a hotel room with the 3 of us. It really was a lot of fun and we both felt really cultured afterwards. We drove down to Provo on Wednesday night and stayed the night there. Thursday morning we got up early and drove to Cedar. We saw 'Taming of the Shrew' first and Brad really enjoyed it. When he was in elementary school his 6th grade class did a production of this play and he approved of the man who played the same role in this version. That night we went and saw a play that was written by Molière, a French playwright. The play was called 'The School for Wives'. It was pretty funny. I had this feeling that there was a theme going on because both shows that we saw on Thursday dealt with how to make women behave.........
On Friday we started off the day with going to Cedar City's 4th of July parade. There were so many people IN the parade that I'm not sure who was watching it. Every kid that played on any sport was on an "allstar" team of some sort and they all got to march in the parade. My sister wanted to wait for the band but turns out there was no band in the parade, dang. That afternoon we went to 'Fiddler on the Roof' and that evening we saw 'Othello'. 'Othello' was so long that we missed all the fireworks. We could hear them going off in the distance but the show went until 11 so we didn't see any. It was ok though because the play was really good. I'd never seen it before and I'd never actually known the storyline at all so now I feel more cultured.
These are the banners for all the shows they are doing this summer.
Saturday we went to Godfathers pizza
for a lunch buffet and turns out they have some really cool temporary tattoos in their little waiting area. Brad got really excited because one machine had marvel comics heroes. My roommates and I used to have a tradition where we would get temporary tattoos on every road trip so we decided to continue the tradition. We both got one and Brad even got a Spiderman one which was his first choice! We convinced Erin to get one but couldn't talk my mom into getting one. Next time! Erin got a sparkly flower and we made it a tramp stamp. I got a sweet Wolverine and put it on the back of my calf.
Saturday we went and saw Cyrano De Bergerac. It was an interesting play. I'd never even heard of it before but there were parts from it that are used in a lot of romance movies and such that I now know where they got their starts. That night Erin and my mom went to one last Shakespeare play while Brad and I drove to St George and watched Les Mes at Tuacahn.
If you have never been to Tuacahn you really should look it up. The picture above is in the parking lot. It's an amazing place. They really use the landscape to their advantage for their shows. All in all it was a great trip and Brad and I had a great time on vacation number 2!
On Friday we started off the day with going to Cedar City's 4th of July parade. There were so many people IN the parade that I'm not sure who was watching it. Every kid that played on any sport was on an "allstar" team of some sort and they all got to march in the parade. My sister wanted to wait for the band but turns out there was no band in the parade, dang. That afternoon we went to 'Fiddler on the Roof' and that evening we saw 'Othello'. 'Othello' was so long that we missed all the fireworks. We could hear them going off in the distance but the show went until 11 so we didn't see any. It was ok though because the play was really good. I'd never seen it before and I'd never actually known the storyline at all so now I feel more cultured.
These are the banners for all the shows they are doing this summer.Saturday we went to Godfathers pizza
for a lunch buffet and turns out they have some really cool temporary tattoos in their little waiting area. Brad got really excited because one machine had marvel comics heroes. My roommates and I used to have a tradition where we would get temporary tattoos on every road trip so we decided to continue the tradition. We both got one and Brad even got a Spiderman one which was his first choice! We convinced Erin to get one but couldn't talk my mom into getting one. Next time! Erin got a sparkly flower and we made it a tramp stamp. I got a sweet Wolverine and put it on the back of my calf.
Saturday we went and saw Cyrano De Bergerac. It was an interesting play. I'd never even heard of it before but there were parts from it that are used in a lot of romance movies and such that I now know where they got their starts. That night Erin and my mom went to one last Shakespeare play while Brad and I drove to St George and watched Les Mes at Tuacahn.
If you have never been to Tuacahn you really should look it up. The picture above is in the parking lot. It's an amazing place. They really use the landscape to their advantage for their shows. All in all it was a great trip and Brad and I had a great time on vacation number 2!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Florida Condo
So these are all my pictures from the condo that we stayed in when we went to Florida. I'm sure most of you don't care but it's the best way I can think of to show them to our travel agent. :) So here is the walk through of the condo.
This is the condo. Obviously the day we were leaving since the day we got there it was 2 am.
This is inside the front door. Directly to the left is a door to the garage that we didn't use because it didn't have an automatic opener and we weren't positive the car doors would be able to open once it was in.... Straight back was the first bedroom.
This was Scotts room. It had a washer and dryer in the closet and a bathroom with a big shower.
Up the stairs on the second level was the kitchen and living room.
There is a 1/2 bathroom through that open door in the kitchen and a pantry behind the door.
Behind the TV is the stairway up to the 3rd floor. Up there were 2 bedrooms.
This room had a king sized bed and the bathroom had a big tub and 2 sinks.
This room had the 2 twin beds and just a regular bathroom.
So everything worked out great with exactly the right number and sizes of beds. And to think it all cost less than 2 hotel rooms! Thanks Jackie!
This is the condo. Obviously the day we were leaving since the day we got there it was 2 am.
This is inside the front door. Directly to the left is a door to the garage that we didn't use because it didn't have an automatic opener and we weren't positive the car doors would be able to open once it was in.... Straight back was the first bedroom.
This was Scotts room. It had a washer and dryer in the closet and a bathroom with a big shower.Up the stairs on the second level was the kitchen and living room.
There is a 1/2 bathroom through that open door in the kitchen and a pantry behind the door.
Behind the TV is the stairway up to the 3rd floor. Up there were 2 bedrooms.
This room had a king sized bed and the bathroom had a big tub and 2 sinks.
This room had the 2 twin beds and just a regular bathroom.So everything worked out great with exactly the right number and sizes of beds. And to think it all cost less than 2 hotel rooms! Thanks Jackie!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Florida!
Florida was so great and I even have a little bit of a tan going on! There is a definite line between pale and pasty on my arms. Perhaps this weeks trip to Cedar city will help the line continue! So here goes my journal entry run down of the whole trip.
Wednesday-
Our flight wasn't until a little later in the afternoon so Brad and I went and looked at apartments first. We were glad when that was done and we were able to get on our way. I watched a bunch of food network on the flight over. It made me crave Macaroni and Cheese....... Dad Dimick bought me some easy mac the last day we were there as a joke. I still want some good deep fried macaroni casserole though..... Picking up our rental car proved to be a little more difficult than necessary. The girls were being silly and the guy behind the counter was being ridiculous. After standing around forever while everything got settled we finally got to our minivan. The windows in the middle rolled down! I was amazed and I think my mom should upgrade her minivan for this feature alone. (I'm easily impressed) We got out the gps but unfortunately it didn't know where the heck our hotel was. We finally called Jackie and got directions and tried to find where we were going. When we would call the number that we had no one would answer so we were worried that if we even found where we were going we wouldn't be able to get in. By the time we got to the condo complex it was about 2 am. We had to go on a treasure hunt to find the first condo which had a box and in that box was an envelope with our name on it which led us to our
condo. We were all sorts of confused and happy to finally get to some beds.
Thursday-
We had planned on going to the theme park the first day but because of our late night we decided it was a beach day instead. We started the day with some breakfast at IHOP. While we were there a balloon guy came up and tried to entertain us while we waited for our food. Scott hates the sounds of balloons squeaking so he just got out 5 bucks left it on the table and went and stood outside. The balloon guy was really not funny at all and he was slow. The best part was watching Devin and Josie trying to figure out his jokes. What they didn't realize was that there was nothing to get because the jokes just weren't funny. He made a friendship flower containing Josie and Devin's favorite colors, he also made a heart with 2 lovebirds for Brad and I.
After breakfast we drove west to check out the beaches on the gulf coast. We went to a beach in Clearwater. I saw some Dolphins swimming in the distance. Brad and Scott got in and had fun jumping the waves. Josie buried Devin and then everyone took some peanuts and fed the birds. Brad had the birds trained to hover just above his head and then they would catch the peanuts in their mouths.
After the beach we headed back to Orlando and we got some dinner at subway. We tried to go to bed early so that we could get to the theme park early the next morning. But of course having a room next to 2 excited 14 year olds makes going to bed early difficult.
Friday-
We got up early and got ready to go to Universal Studios. The forecast called for rain and so we wanted to hurry and do all the outside rides first before it began raining. I actually went on the Hulk roller coaster! I was so proud of myself. I got out of line at Lagoon once because I was too scared to go on Colossus. This ride makes that one look like a kiddie ride. We went on the Spiderman ride which was an awesome combination of a 3d show and a ride. That was probably my favorite.
We tried to go on the new Simpson's ride but after we waited for an hour in line they came on the loudspeakers and told us that the ride was broken. "Sorry for any inconvenience." So after we were done going on rides we went home and showered. It never rained so that was nice. When we were ready to go to dinner the girls had fallen asleep and didn't want to get up to come with us so we went to TGI Fridays for dinner without them. We had a lovely cross-dressing waiter/ess who took over an hour to get our food. There was another balloon person but luckily they got pulled to a table on the other side of the room just as she was about to get to our table.
Saturday-
Saturday we went to the Kennedy Space Center. We had a blast! (pun intended) We took the bus tour and went around the complex and learned all about the history of NASA and space exploration and we got to see the things as we were learning about them. We sat a little too close during the 3d movie about walking on the moon and my head kind of hurt for a little while. We also got to go in a simulator that made you feel like you were taking off in the shuttle. Basically it just tipped you back in your seats and shook you around a lot. It was neat.
While driving home we got to experience a good Florida thunderstorm. It was raining so hard we could barely see in front of the car. At one point we could smell smoke, probably from a fire that started from the lightening, but it was raining so hard we couldn't see where the fire was. When we got home that night we were flipping channels and we caught "When we left earth." We were excited to continue our space knowledge with a Discovery channel documentary on the very things we just spent the day learning about.
Sunday-
Sunday morning I woke up early (I can't help it anymore) and I went downstairs to eat breakfast and I turned on the tv while I waited for everyone else to get up. Our flight was in the early afternoon so we decided just to sleep in and not worry about getting in any more sightseeing. While I was watching tv I started flipping through the guest book and came across a page that had in bold red letters that checkout time was at 10 and that late checkouts would be charged. I ran upstairs because it was exactly 10:06 at that time. I got Brad up and he woke up everybody else and we all hurried and packed up our belongings. Scott went and turned in the key and it seemed like there wasn't going to be any problem so hopefully there wont be an extra charge. Our flight had a layover in Cincinnati so it took longer to get home. On the first flight the
TV's didn't work so we slept a little. We had exit row seats on all our flights and the flight attendant on this flight asked me if I was 15. (Enter my Napoleon Complex) Brad said he was more offended for his own sake because he didn't want people to think he was married to someone that wasn't even 15. On the flight to Salt Lake the TV's were working but the satellite was down so all we could do was pay to watch movies. I watched the Bucket List. I liked it a lot. We'll probably rent it and watch it again so Brad can see it. When we were getting on that flight I asked a flight attendant if the TV's were working and he said he thought they were but when he saw we had paid for movies because the satellite was broken he felt bad so he refunded us the money we paid to watch the movies! It was awesome.
Overall the trip was so nice! We are so grateful to Josie and Devin for getting good grades and to Scott and Jackie for inviting us and paying for everything! It's an experience that as newlywed students we would have never been able to do on our own. If anyone else needs chaperone's for vacations and you want to pay for Brad and I to go anywhere we will try our best to work it into our schedule!
Wednesday-
Our flight wasn't until a little later in the afternoon so Brad and I went and looked at apartments first. We were glad when that was done and we were able to get on our way. I watched a bunch of food network on the flight over. It made me crave Macaroni and Cheese....... Dad Dimick bought me some easy mac the last day we were there as a joke. I still want some good deep fried macaroni casserole though..... Picking up our rental car proved to be a little more difficult than necessary. The girls were being silly and the guy behind the counter was being ridiculous. After standing around forever while everything got settled we finally got to our minivan. The windows in the middle rolled down! I was amazed and I think my mom should upgrade her minivan for this feature alone. (I'm easily impressed) We got out the gps but unfortunately it didn't know where the heck our hotel was. We finally called Jackie and got directions and tried to find where we were going. When we would call the number that we had no one would answer so we were worried that if we even found where we were going we wouldn't be able to get in. By the time we got to the condo complex it was about 2 am. We had to go on a treasure hunt to find the first condo which had a box and in that box was an envelope with our name on it which led us to our
condo. We were all sorts of confused and happy to finally get to some beds.
Thursday-
We had planned on going to the theme park the first day but because of our late night we decided it was a beach day instead. We started the day with some breakfast at IHOP. While we were there a balloon guy came up and tried to entertain us while we waited for our food. Scott hates the sounds of balloons squeaking so he just got out 5 bucks left it on the table and went and stood outside. The balloon guy was really not funny at all and he was slow. The best part was watching Devin and Josie trying to figure out his jokes. What they didn't realize was that there was nothing to get because the jokes just weren't funny. He made a friendship flower containing Josie and Devin's favorite colors, he also made a heart with 2 lovebirds for Brad and I.
After breakfast we drove west to check out the beaches on the gulf coast. We went to a beach in Clearwater. I saw some Dolphins swimming in the distance. Brad and Scott got in and had fun jumping the waves. Josie buried Devin and then everyone took some peanuts and fed the birds. Brad had the birds trained to hover just above his head and then they would catch the peanuts in their mouths.
After the beach we headed back to Orlando and we got some dinner at subway. We tried to go to bed early so that we could get to the theme park early the next morning. But of course having a room next to 2 excited 14 year olds makes going to bed early difficult.
Friday-
We got up early and got ready to go to Universal Studios. The forecast called for rain and so we wanted to hurry and do all the outside rides first before it began raining. I actually went on the Hulk roller coaster! I was so proud of myself. I got out of line at Lagoon once because I was too scared to go on Colossus. This ride makes that one look like a kiddie ride. We went on the Spiderman ride which was an awesome combination of a 3d show and a ride. That was probably my favorite.
We tried to go on the new Simpson's ride but after we waited for an hour in line they came on the loudspeakers and told us that the ride was broken. "Sorry for any inconvenience." So after we were done going on rides we went home and showered. It never rained so that was nice. When we were ready to go to dinner the girls had fallen asleep and didn't want to get up to come with us so we went to TGI Fridays for dinner without them. We had a lovely cross-dressing waiter/ess who took over an hour to get our food. There was another balloon person but luckily they got pulled to a table on the other side of the room just as she was about to get to our table.Saturday-
Saturday we went to the Kennedy Space Center. We had a blast! (pun intended) We took the bus tour and went around the complex and learned all about the history of NASA and space exploration and we got to see the things as we were learning about them. We sat a little too close during the 3d movie about walking on the moon and my head kind of hurt for a little while. We also got to go in a simulator that made you feel like you were taking off in the shuttle. Basically it just tipped you back in your seats and shook you around a lot. It was neat.
While driving home we got to experience a good Florida thunderstorm. It was raining so hard we could barely see in front of the car. At one point we could smell smoke, probably from a fire that started from the lightening, but it was raining so hard we couldn't see where the fire was. When we got home that night we were flipping channels and we caught "When we left earth." We were excited to continue our space knowledge with a Discovery channel documentary on the very things we just spent the day learning about.Sunday-
Sunday morning I woke up early (I can't help it anymore) and I went downstairs to eat breakfast and I turned on the tv while I waited for everyone else to get up. Our flight was in the early afternoon so we decided just to sleep in and not worry about getting in any more sightseeing. While I was watching tv I started flipping through the guest book and came across a page that had in bold red letters that checkout time was at 10 and that late checkouts would be charged. I ran upstairs because it was exactly 10:06 at that time. I got Brad up and he woke up everybody else and we all hurried and packed up our belongings. Scott went and turned in the key and it seemed like there wasn't going to be any problem so hopefully there wont be an extra charge. Our flight had a layover in Cincinnati so it took longer to get home. On the first flight the
TV's didn't work so we slept a little. We had exit row seats on all our flights and the flight attendant on this flight asked me if I was 15. (Enter my Napoleon Complex) Brad said he was more offended for his own sake because he didn't want people to think he was married to someone that wasn't even 15. On the flight to Salt Lake the TV's were working but the satellite was down so all we could do was pay to watch movies. I watched the Bucket List. I liked it a lot. We'll probably rent it and watch it again so Brad can see it. When we were getting on that flight I asked a flight attendant if the TV's were working and he said he thought they were but when he saw we had paid for movies because the satellite was broken he felt bad so he refunded us the money we paid to watch the movies! It was awesome.
Overall the trip was so nice! We are so grateful to Josie and Devin for getting good grades and to Scott and Jackie for inviting us and paying for everything! It's an experience that as newlywed students we would have never been able to do on our own. If anyone else needs chaperone's for vacations and you want to pay for Brad and I to go anywhere we will try our best to work it into our schedule!
PAZOOKIES!
Before I post about my awesome trip to Florida I must first and foremost post about my new favorite kitchen item that we purchased before we left. We decided that we needed to purchase some miniature skillets so we can make our very own pazookies. For 20 bucks we got 2 skillets and little skillet oven mitts. It also came with some Lehi Mills cookie mix. They were delicious and we felt like throwing up afterwards! In the future we will probably just share one but since we have 2 pans we'll need friends to eat the second! Any takers?
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Summer Vacation!
I love not going to school in the summer. I think that may be a part of why I'm going to be a teacher.... I know it doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't I just not be a teacher at all then I would never have to be in school, but then I'd have a job that would make me work during the summer. I just love that there is something that sets summer apart. Since my father is a teacher my whole life there has been a different feeling during the summer. I've never understood people who do summer school. It's summer, that is not time for school it's time for getting so bored you actually want to go back to school! Growing up we would always go on at least one big trip each summer. This summer will be no different. We're leaving tonight and driving to Salt Lake and tomorrow afternoon we will be flying to Florida. I'm really excited! I haven't been back to Florida since we moved from there back in 1993. We are going to Orlando but honestly I have no idea what we're doing other than that. We aren't in charge of any of it so we're just going along for the ride. I'll take my camera and hopefully I remember to use it. I hope that when I'm all grown up we can still take the time to go somewhere neat each summer!
side note: as I'm sitting here working I can see kids gather for EFY outside (Especially for Youth). I was an EFY counselor last summer and it was one of the most amazing things I've ever done. It's making me nostalgic. Then I took a closer look and I can see one of my kids from my own group last summer sitting on the grass...... I love seeing kids continue to make good choices and continue to participate in things that are strengthening their testimonies!
side note: as I'm sitting here working I can see kids gather for EFY outside (Especially for Youth). I was an EFY counselor last summer and it was one of the most amazing things I've ever done. It's making me nostalgic. Then I took a closer look and I can see one of my kids from my own group last summer sitting on the grass...... I love seeing kids continue to make good choices and continue to participate in things that are strengthening their testimonies!
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