I got to take myself a permanent vacation

It's long overdue at this point, but Toby & Tysen spent the week before the 4th of July at Lake Powell. They had SO much fun and the sunburns were minimal, thankfully. After Lake Powell, they went to spend a week with Toby's parents in Ephraim/Manti and they had a blast there too. Audrey & I flew up the following week for our vacation in Utah - more pics to come, but for now, this is what happened while Toby & Tysen were away & Audrey & I were at home.

Toby & Tysen on the boat

Toby & his nephew Jaden kneeboarding

Tysen attempted to kneeboard with the help of Kenlynne. He didn't ever get up, but I was happy he tried

He had a ton of fun on the tube with Kenlynne though

They had a bit of wind one day while they were out on the lake. This is what the campsite looked like when they returned. Looks like fun, right?

While they were gone and Audrey & I were at home alone, I got a bit stir-crazy in the evenings after Audrey was in bed. These are the results of my boredom.

These are letters I made for our vaulted ceiling above our kitchen cabinets. They're about 2.5 feet tall paper mache letters I painted and then covered with crinkled tissue paper to make them textured before adding the embellishments

A closer look - it's hard to tell but there are little diamondy-crystal things on the corners of the letters to reflect the light

I also made wooden letters for Audrey's room. They're each covered in a different pink scrapbook paper and they hang from organza ribbon. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but they're super cute!

When I finished my literary endeavors, I moved on to redoing Tysen's room. I didn't take before pics but the green wall used to be red & blue stripes and he had Thomas the Train curtains & bedspread. Now it's a big boy room. I didn't tell him or Toby I was doing it so it was a surprise when we got home from Utah. And yes, Joanna, it's too much to ask that I clean up the room before taking a photo.

The wall opposite the green is painted blue and Kenlynne & I mounted big maps to backer board to hang on the wall. (Did you know there are stores where they sell nothing but maps? I had no idea. It was in 'the hood' but Kenlynne & I came out unscathed) Tysen is totally into geography and how to get places. He can get a person from our house to Wal-Mart, the mall, church, school, Audrey's babysitter, Kenlynne's house, my work, Toby's work, or the airport. He's our human GPS.

It wasn't all work for me while they were gone. Audrey & I spent the 4th with my cousin, Katie & her family in Queen Creek and had a great time eating & chatting

Rise & Shout

The Princeton Review just came out with their annual superlative listing for the nation's colleges. BYU ranked number one most socially conservative and states it as being 'largely religious'. Shocking . . . really.

I fail to understand your romantic nostalgia

We've been in AZ for 2 years now. Some days that feels like forever and other days it feels like a week. I especially miss Utah on days like the 24th. There are a lot of things I miss about living in Utah, but lots of things I love about living here. Here are some of the pros and cons of each in my eyes:

Utah:
Pro - family

Pro - friends

Pro - shorter summers with lower peak temperatures

Con - winter & snow

Pro - radio stations that play something besides hip-hop

Pro - our house, ward & neighborhood (I LOVED our house in UT)

Con - commuting to work for both me and Toby

Con - living far from shopping areas (even Wal-Mart was 20 minutes away)

Pro - my job (I miss Richards & Duckworth so bad)

Con - Toby's job (no teaching jobs open when he was looking)

Pro - BYU sports (that one is for Toby)

Pro - cheap restaurants

Con - lower paying jobs


Arizona:
Pro - living by Kenlynne & her family

Con - not living by any other family

Pro - our house, ward & neighborhood (I also LOVE our house here)

Pro - excellent school for the kids

Con - all the radio stations only play hip hop

Con - HOT summers

Pro - fantastic "winters" with 60 degree weather

Pro - my job (love it!)

Pro - Toby's job

Pro - decent salaries

Pro - short commute (we live 3 miles from my work)

Con - no BYU sports (but not to worry, we upgrade directv so he gets 'The Mountain')

Pro - year-round golfing

Con - Toby has to miss out on fresh tomatoes from parents' gardens

Con - neither of us speak Spanish so ordering at a drive-thru is challenging

Pro - our yard (our yard in SF was pretty pathetically small)

Con - mowing the yard when it's 115 degrees (Toby's problem of course - as though I even know how to start a lawn mower)

Pro - we're minutes away from any shopping we could ever want to do

Pro - a house that's completely finished (no basement to worry about finishing)

Pro - an HOA that actually waters & mows the grass and keeps things looking nice

Pro - the cities & streets are always kept up and nice (no haggard-looking neighborhoods nearby)

Pro - all the speed limits are 45 MPH on main roads (no guessing & getting tickets)

Con - the snow birds (aka old people who don't know how to drive that come here in the winter)


Bottom line: despite the distance from the majority of family, we really love living here - but there are times we really miss living in Utah too. Overall I'd say we're content - and that's not a bad place to be in life.

Manti High Class of 99 Reunion

This is from the facebook group for our class posted by Margaret Burnham. Just FYI

Ok-it's finalized! Manti High School Class of '99 10 year reunion. Manti City Park 200 N. 300 W. East Pavilion (by playground). Saturday, September 5, 2009 at 12pm. Significant others and children welcome. BBQ/potluck. No formal invites will be sent so pass this on and let everyone know! If people do want to RSVP, they can post it on the class group page...

The whole family tree is full of lunatics

Each year, all the women on my dad's side of the family goes away for a weekend together for what we affectionately refer to as "Day Girl's Retreat". There are not words sufficient to describe the madness, chaos, and riotousness that ensues. Anywhere from 60-80 people attend and ages range from 18 to half dead. It's a delight each summer and this year was no exception. This year it was in St. George and Joanna couldn't make it (missed you Jo!) so it was me, mom and Mary. We ate too much, stayed up too late, spent too much money shopping - all the overindulgence we could handle. It was superb.

The first night we had to make up a jingle to promote Day Girls and at the end of ours we did some killer spirit fingers with a drop down into the dead arm, a la Bring it On (a must-see movie) Jodie, do you have a question?

The Ross Day Family representin'

Some of our overeating at the super yummy Brazilian steakhouse

We went to see Footloose at Tuachan. The theater was amazingly beautiful.

The star (Kevin Bacon's character) was played by Thayne Jasperson of So You Think You Can Dance. I LOVE that show and was totally star-struck. I turned into a 12 year old at the very mention of his name all evening. And here I am with his arm around me! Be still my heart! No idea who the chick is - whatever.

Evidence of the overspending that happened. My idea of a good time? SHOPPING!!!

My mom, me & Mary

Seriously, it was AWESOME!!!

Things that sucked this week

1) Buying a new pair of cute capris, getting them home, washing them (I insist on washing everything before I wear it) and noticing the first time I wear them that the zipper absolutely, positively will NOT stay up. I'll probably wear them anyway. If you see me in jean capris and my zipper is down, please pretend you didn't notice.

2) Costco at 6 pm on the 3rd of July.

Have a happy 4th!