Canal Ride at Piazza San Marco

We went on a canal ride at the Venetian hotel. We decided to go in the afternoon because we didn't want to have to stand in a line. Well there was no line because it was 98 degrees outside that day! We road with another couple who were from Colorado and were really nice. Our boat guy, I can't think of what he would be called right now, was actually from Firenze (Florence). His name was Niccolo and he had a decent singing voice as he serenaded us as we went under the bridges. It was a fun change of pace.

Sirens at Treasure Island

I hadn't seen the Pirate show at Treasure Island in years. 2-3 years ago they changed it to the Sirens show. We decided to eat there and then watch the show. The meal was decent enough and the show...I thought my eyes were being burned out of my head! Those women were wearing less than what most women were wearing at our swimming pool. I found it all entertaining but between our jobs, we are NOT around that type of stuff. I don't think we will be going back to watch that show for a very long time.
We did meet some very nice Brits since ours weren't with us. (They are going on a Panama Canal Cruise as we speak.) There were 2 couples, one from Nottingham and one from Newcastle. For those of you that don't know, Newcastle is right near the boarder (where many of my ancestors are from) with Scotland so their accents were very Scottish. The ones from Nottingham, well they aren't 30 min from our friends in Leicester. We had a nice chat with them. They had been to Zion's earlier in the day and been to Salt Lake in the past. They seemed to be a bit scandalized, as we were. Seriously people...I would not let children see this show!
I was able to get some decent photos though.

Little Caesar's

The first day in Vegas we decided to head out to find somewhere to eat.

We walked through Planet Hollywood, Bally's in front of Bellagio and into Caesar's Forum shops. We ate at some mexican restaurant there that was good.




Caesar's has add on to the forum shops during the last few years. Ok maybe it has been 5 years but I don't go to Vegas as often as I used to go. This area has twisting escalators. We were up on the 3rd floor and had to go to the bottom floor. It was a ride for my tummy. Yes I am that big of a wimp when it comes to heights.




Rick took this photo of me...I don't realize how long and how much hair I have until I see photos like this. It kinda freaks me out to be honest. My hair is naturally curly/wavy too.

Diagon Alley's Back Door

shhh...I found the back door to Diagon Alley...

In N Out

My blogs from our vacation are all over the place. Sorry. It is like my life these days...all over the place.

I have always enjoyed In N Out. Their fries are THE only fries I will eat with ketchup, not a lot, but some. Until this last trip I had never tried a cheese burger. MMMM It was so good.

During most of our visits to In N Out I hadn't tried their shakes. Back 6 years ago when I was engaged to Steve from Vegas, we went to In N Out and he ordered a strawberry shake. The heavens were opened to me that day. I had found ambrosia. Seriously, there have been times when I have craved a strawberry shake from In N Out. I have tried them at Arby's, Burger King, McDonald's, Chadders and so on but nothing compares to an In N Out shake. I had decided when we booked our trip I would have one every single day we were there, until I found out how many calories are in them.... 680!!! Let me tell you, those 680 calories are worth it but not everyday. =( I only had 2 shakes while on our vacation. I let the Dude have a few sips on the first one but the second, not a drop. And to think, there is going to be an In N Out just over a mile from me in less than a year!!

Stephen Moves In

Stephen moved in with us this week.

We came home from vacation on Sunday around 3:30. We spent until about 10:00 that night packing up my Jeff Gordon bedroom. Monday I came home from work and spent another 4 hours in there. Rick took 3 trips to the storage place with a full car. He said the bins are stacked 10 feet high...I haven't seen it yet.

1,000 square feet really isn't much space for 3 adults. When I went to USU I had my own 2 bedroom apartment because I wanted enough space.

Yes, our futon is in our dining room.
I have a 27" table for my computer now. I used to have a 4 foot desk AND a 29" 2 shelf bookcase on one side and a full 5 shelf bookcase on the other. The large bookcase is now in the hall next to the bathroom. The desk, in storage.







So if I seem a bit on edge for the next six months (hopefully it doesn't last any longer)...this is why!

Philosophies On Children

This is not meant to offend anyone and if it does...well you probably have been offend by me before and I don't know why you are still reading my blog.

My philosophies on Children:

I know why when you are normally given children by God that they are young, because if you started when they are teenagers or in their 20's....you can't raise them up to be the way you want them to be! Sure you want them to have their own personalities but if they are that old you can't tell them how to keep themselves clean, clean their bedroom, control who their friends are and the list goes on and on.

People are able to procreate in their early years for a reason - if you wait until you are in your 30's or older you are too tired, too stuck in your own ways and just don't want to have to deal with all that stuff!

I really do like children but honestly, I like it when they go home to their parents and I am able to sleep through the night.

There is a reason to have children early in marriage rather than waiting (I am getting this mostly from my sister but I agree) because you get too comfortable with your way of life without children that throwing them into the mix after 8 years is a bad idea. It just makes a hard situation of adjusting even harder.

Yeah...

Free Roller Coaster

I found my own free roller coaster in Vegas last week.I am VERY afraid of heights. I told Rick that I felt like it was actually getting out of hand it has gotten so bad. It seems to just get worse and worse. We went to Caesar's Palace our first day there and road the twisty escalator. Coming down from the 3rd floor got my stomach going.
Yep, I am officially a wimp!

My Husband the Model

Of all the photos I took, 364, while on vacation, I think these are my two favorites.

LIFE

Life has been SO busy lately....I will blog soon...hopefully tomorrow

Life

I haven't had the time to blog as I would like these past 2 weeks. Even now I don't think this will cover everything I want to say but hopefully during the next few days, I will be able to catch up.

August 30th - We decided to stay home from church. It was the last day in our old ward. Our stake added a new ward and realigned the boundaries making it so we were part of the new ward. This has been very exciting for us as we would now have ward members actually living next to us rather than a mile away. I know that outside of Utah it could be like that BUT we live in Draper, Utah not somewhere else. We didn't want to go and have people gushing all over us for leaving, cause we really aren't leaving. Well it is a good thing we decided to stay home. While we would normally have been at church, Rick received a very important phone call. After a bunch of telephone tag, Rick was speaking to his son Jeff. I have never met Jeff and Rick hadn't spoken with him in about 6 years. Jeff called to let us know that his mom, Jana, had died. Not only that, her boys were the ones to find her.
Jeff turned 23 on Sept 1st and his brother, Stephen turned 21 back in May. Suddenly our lives were all turned upside down.
We spent Sunday afternoon with them at the home of their grandparents. Rick has since talked with both boys every single day and they have together and separately spent time with us at home.
We had their mom's funeral on Sept 5th. It was a lovely day. There was a viewing and a memorial service here in Salt Lake and she was buried in Trenton, Cache County. It was a perfect day for everything. The talks during the funeral, some were good, some so not. I could go on and on about the one that wasn't. Let's just say, I almost got up and walked out and Rick did later on during the same guy's talk. Yes, it was that bad!
Now let me tell you a few details - I have this morbid curiosity about dead bodies. I didn't used to have it. I avoided funerals and all that a funeral service entails until a few years ago when my grandparents died. Rick didn't want to have anything to do with the dead body but I sure did. I wanted to make sure she was really dead! So I crept into the viewing room and checked her out. She looked gray! Seriously, I haven't seen many dead bodies in my time but never have they looked so horrible. Not only that she looked SOOOO old. The only thing missing was that she didn't have the gray hair. She had wrinkles that were horrendous. Ok I should say the body looked like that because I do not believe that the body is the same person as when they were alive. It is a vessel for the Spirit.
Anyway, back to the point - not sure what it really is.

On Friday the 5th we received another phone call - this time it was from Rick's sister telling us that our niece, Michelle, had committed suicide. She would be 40 next month. She left behind a husband, 4 children and a step son. I had only met Michelle once about 3 years ago, but I know her dad fairly well.
Michelle had been having a very difficult time with life and had tried earlier this year to end her life. We know that she is now at peace but unfortunately her children have to learn to grow without their mommy there for them.
Michelle's funeral was held on Friday the 11th. It was good to meet some nephews and their wives who I had never met before but it was obviously a very sad occasion. Michelle's cousin, Amy, passed away 5 years ago. They were only a year apart and we know Amy was there to welcome her with open arms and the love she felt she didn't have in this life. I am sure Amy was there to take her cousin to Heavenly Father and Jesus where she would also have their love. (Along with all our other family members.) - Photos - Rick and his dad. Sharron, Rick's sister, Amy's mom, holding her Great Nephew Ryker who Rick blessed back in February.

On Monday the 7th, as we were walking out the door Rick got a call from Steve telling him that Steve wants to live with us. WHOA! I really didn't see that one coming. I figured he would want to live at his aunt's. We live in a 2 bedroom apartment. Not a house. Heck I don't even want to live with us in such a small place some days. So for the last week we have been trying to figure out what to do with him and Jeff because Jeff has just as much right to live with us, as long as either abides by our rules.
Yesterday Jeff and Steve had a family meeting with their mom's family trying to figure out what they are going to do. We haven't heard the results of that meeting yet. And yes, it bothers me that they think they can get together and decide the fate of these boys without their dad being there but let's not get into that.
We should know in the next day or two who will be living with us, if either choose to do so. I told Rick that it can only be one cause if both move in, I am moving out!

My genealogy stuff has been really good lately. I am finally on the New FamilySearch website which has made it possible for me to generate many cards with names of family members whose Temple Work needs to be done. I have learned that I can make it to the Draper Temple and back, along with a session of initiatories in 1 hour. I have been trying to do this every week lately and it makes such a difference in my outlook of life.

In the mean time, we decided to try and move forward with building. That's right, we are building a home! We signed our reservation agreement on Saturday to build a home in Stansbury Park. I will write a separate blog about that entire circus the ensued. In the end though, we are VERY excited.

We have a lot of changes going on in our life right now and are very excited about them. Some more than others obviously.

Things I Like

I just had the idea, while in the bathroom (the inspiration room as some may call it) about a blog. I want to tell you about some of the things I like. My list could go on and on and on but I will try to keep it short and to the first things that come to mind. These are in no particular order either.

The one that started this blog - being the first one to use a newly cleaned toilet. I love it when I am the first in a public bathroom, like at the airport or at work. There is something satisfying knowing that the seat is still up because it is clean.

A good NASCAR race - yes I admit there are bad ones. The bad ones are ones with no passing, not wrecks and they are especially bad when Jeff Gordon is in the back or worse yet, out of the race. There is just something about the rumble of their engines and seeing these cars go 200 miles an hour!

Newly vacuumed carpet, A well kept lawn, A well groomed outfield in baseball - All of these are essentially the same. I like to see the lines in any of these surfaces after they have been "groomed". I like to see the patterns in grass because the person mowing the lawn took the time to do it both directions. Yes I know this takes a lot of time and trust me, when I lived in my home I took the time to do it, every single week. There is nothing better than a both directions diagonal cut.

A good book or a good movie - I can't tell you how many times I have watch any of the Harry Potter movies, Ever After and Twilight. They give me a happy tingly feeling just thinking about them.

Having a husband who is cleaner than I am - it is wonderful to know that my home will always be clean when I come home from work. 'Nuff said

Having great friends - I am so blessed to have some very close friends. Friends who accept me for who I am and understand that I like to hide out from time to time and home but they are still there to listen to my crazy stories.

Music that makes me want to move or sing. Here I am listening to some Ricky Martin with my feet tapping away while swaying to the beat with the rest of my body. Last night for example I spent 3-4 hours organizing music in my iTunes and playing Guitar Hero. I am always amazed at how many different types of music I like. I miss having a grand piano in my home to play whenever the urge hits me but at least I have GH to feel like I am creating the music. Maybe I need Darci to give me some refresher flute lesson.

And last but not least my "Shel Cave" - You have heard of the "Man Cave" well I have my Shel Cave at home. I have all my dvd's (over 200 of them), my computers (cause I claim Rick's as mine too since often I am doing projects on both at the same time) all my other computer equipment (mics, software, dvd burner, webcam, etc), my stereo and other countless things in my Shel Cave I couldn't live without. The only thing that would make that room better was if I had the big screen and surround sound in there rather than in the family room.

Lunch

When I go on my lunch break from work, I usually go to the park. Sometimes I stay in my car and other times I sit in the shade of a tree. Yesterday I ventured across the street from my office where I found this little location.

I had seen the grass peaking out from between the trees when driving in so I decided I needed to check it out. I am not the only one who has gone in there because some of the plants were bent over. There is also a little stream along side. There were SO many birds flying around too.The view from sitting on my blanket.
I am so glad I did.

Note to self...

I must write a note to myself. Eyeliner is NOT the same as an eye brow pencil. Do not use it on your eye brows. Especially when your eyeliner is black and your eyebrows are brown. It does not come off very easily.
Thanks for remembering next time.

Snowcones

I like snowcones. Apparently they are a genetic taste thing. My siblings all pretty much like snowcones, some more than others but still we all like them. Rick, does not so much.
Let me tell you a story about snowcones...
It was about 8 years ago, probably this month, when my brother went to get a snowcone. It wasn't his first of the summer but probably his 50th. He was engaged and came home where his fiance was hanging out. We didn't hear all of the conversation but we did hear, "Did you spend all your money on snowcones?!" It was hillarious! She was upset with him for spending his last dollar on a snowcone. To this day, it still makes my cousins and sisters laugh when we talk about snowcones. Yeah, I guess you had to be there.
My snowcone however was mighty tasty. It was so good I had a second one at the ReAl game and little Jimmy 3 helped me drink it.