Oh To Be Me...

Growing up is never easy. You hold on to things that were. You wonder what's to come. But that night, I think we knew it was time to let go of what had been, and look ahead to what would be. Other days. New days. Days to come. The thing is, we didn't have to hate each other for getting older. We just had to forgive ourselves... for growing up.

--Kevin, The Wonder Years

I've been tagged, so here are my answers.

20 Years Ago....
1. I was 8 years old.
2. I was in the 2nd grade.
3. I had a crush on Marcus Carini.
4. I was living in La Mesa, California at 8265 Pasadena Ave.

10 Years Ago....
1. I graduated from Helix (Charter) High School.
2. I worked at Sea World San Diego.
3. I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah for college.
4. I met Ben and Ryan...I became their "pre-mission mission".

5 Years Ago....
1. I was married to STR the Fourth.
2. I had 2 boys, Noah, 2 and Blake, just a new little dude.
3. I was a stay-at-home mom, short order cook, housekeeper, professional diaper changer.
4. I lived in the cute stucco house on Custer Ave, Ogden.

3 Years Ago....
1. STR the Fourth went to Iraq.
2. I found myself again.
3. I was a total scrapbook nerd.
4. I was working for Rusty Pickle. Whoa.

1 Year Ago....
1. I had been divorced and living in my own apartment for a year.
2. I had been working for MMI for 1 year.
3. I spent my free time with my bishop's family.
4. I completed a complete under the hood overhaul on the hottest 4Runner on the Wasatch front.

So far this year....
1. I moved out of the ghetto on the east side to my current digs.
2. I went to England for a 2 week business trip. Fun!
3. I've only read 2 books. Sad, I know.
4. I met my Kary! (This is by far my favorite event of the year)

Yesterday I.....
1. Went to Kohl's and the mall by myself.
2. Didn't get to see my Kary.
3. Paid my bills.
4. Thought about how nice it will be to have my own bed back. (My parental units are currently occupying that spot)

Today I.....
1. Made breakfast burritos for everyone.
2. Took a warm shower. First time in about 5 days.
3. Went to church with the boys and Kary.
4. Took the boys back to STR the Fourth after a wonderful 6 days with them.

In the next year I'll.....
1. Get married!
2. Move to the liberal land of Salt Lake City.
3. Get Joint Physical Custody of Blake and Noah. Finally.
4. Have a baby?

I tag everyone.

And, Isn't It Ironic?

The questions and answers on an insurance claim form were:

"Q: What warning was given by you?

A: Horn.

"Q: What warning was given by the other party? A: Moo."

--An insurance questionnaire where a claimant had collided with a cow.

OK. So I have to say that in my 13 years of driving, I've never hit a car and have it be my fault. But if I am opening up "Honesty Hour" with you all, I must admit to the things I HAVE hit. While I was not aiming for the following, I did kill a few things with my car being the weapon.

1. There was the road trip my dad, my sister (Emily) and I took in July 1996. On this trip, I drove all but maybe an hour of the trip (age 16, driver's permit in hand), in a car that lost its air conditioning before we ever made it to Bakersfield (yes, the first of our 10 day tour). We were somewhere in the middle of the hellish Arizona desert. Phoenix was our destination that day. Why? I'm not really sure, but I can tell you that when we drove past a thermometer that read 113 degrees, I guarantee you I wished the soaked seats in my mom's car were a pool and not my sweat. On the way to Phoenix though, I ran over what looked like a squirrel or chipmunk. It's possible with the heat though I was hallucinating, because until that day, I didn't know that rodents could survive in the fiery desert.




2. As the first chair flute in the Grossmont High School District Honor Band, I, like all of my other band mates were forced to drive to the high school furthest from my own. This was the high school in the "country" of San Diego. My Camry could handle pretty well. She was a great first car. But that day I defiled her by running over what I thought was a rope rolling across the off-ramp bridge. I did not think I needed to use the great handling feature that came standard on the Camry. But no, no. This was no rope. I looked in the rear-view mirror after hearing a horrendous thump under the car. Magically, the rope split into two pieces. Hmm...silly snake. Snakes can't out run a Toyota.




3. I went on a field trip in my ex-mother-in-law's rental car at my ex-brother-in-law's wedding in Desert Hot Springs (just outside of Palm Springs). I can't remember why I went out, but I remember what happened when I came back. I will never forget that sound. Never want to hear it again. You would think that in the desert someone would figure out how to turn the heat of the night into electricity. This main road had hardly any street lights. As a result of this fact and my super speediness, I didn't have a chance to stop for or swerve away from what looked like a cute, healthy tabby cat. R.I.P. Kitty Kitty.

So, back to the original reason I started writing this post. Recall, if you will, Evidence A. Jen has never been in an accident that she was responsible for. Until Friday, November 14, 2008. It is an inexcusable accident. I blame it on my missing fish-eye mirror I had on my driver's side mirror until that day. I was so excited to go to lunch with my co-worker Tricia, I started backing out of my work parking lot (the only way to get out is to back out). Next, I blame this accident on my 32" tires. My truck is the hottest 1994 Toyota 4Runner on the Wasatch Front and no matter how bad my gas mileage is, I LOVE my 32" tires. But with my little woman's syndrome, I should think about looking down instead of straight back, for those less fortunate than myself who drive low-profile vehicles. Last but not least, I blame my co-worker's questionable parking job: 3 feet from the curb next to my building in an imaginary parking spot. So, on the bright side, I've learned this valuable information:

1. Japanese vs. German--The Japanese will always win.
2. Having 32" tires and Little Woman's Syndrome isn't always a negative thing.
3. Those who have said: "They just don't make cars like they used to" knew exactly what they were talking about. And to think I used to make fun of them. (Although the whole "I walked 15 miles to school in the worst blizzard to hit this region in 100 years barefoot and without a shirt or earmuffs" speech is getting a little old. ;)

Here is the proof of the aforementioned point #1.

THE WINNER

As you can see, well not really because let's face it, my cell phone was made to be a phone, not a camera. At any rate, my truck has a little less paint on about a 2"x2" spot just below my slightly broken tail light. In addition to that, I have a slight dent on the corner of my bumper and a bent tail pipe.

THE LOSER

This further confirms the aforementioned point #1. So, um, to all of you VW Passat owners--How do you feel about that crash test rating now? Because I'm pretty sure I wasn't going more than 1 MPH in reverse. But then again, thank goodness for my 32" BF Goody's and a factory tow package.

Home, Home on the Range

“And I’d tell my grandchildren about it someday, if the mere mention of it didn’t cause me to sweat bullets and pant, which wouldn’t necessarily be an appropriate way for a grandma to act.”
--The Pioneer Woman

Ok. So this post has nothing to do with myself, or my family, but with a great website I was recently made aware of. Eric's mom (Eric is my cousin Rachel's boyfriend) told him, he told Aunt Joni, and Aunt Joni told me about it.

http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman website is written by a woman, Ree Drummond, who lives in the country on a ranch. Something she tried to avoid the first 25 years of her life. To find out how she wound up on a ranch, away from the city lights she had grown to love and live by, you will have to check out her story. (Beware, if you don't like sappy stories, you might want to skip this part of the website.) There are tons of great things to check out at her website, including recipes, photography (she is a phenomenal photographer!), confessions, home/garden, and homeschooling. Ree has a great sense of humor; I love her writing style.

I'm hooked and I know you will be too!

My Noah-Bear

"Parenthood: That state of being better chaperoned than you were
before marriage."

--Marcelene Cox

I am now the mother of a 7 year old. Whoa. I'm not really sure where all the time went between November 8, 2001 and now, but I do know that I wouldn't know what my life would be like without my Noah-Bear (a.k.a. Doodie-Bear...I'm pretty sure that was a nickname Rob came up with, not me).

Noah has taught me what I must have been like as a young child. And while he has been an amazing child, I must apologize to my sister, Emily, for being so bossy. And to my parents, especially my mom, I must apologize for always knowing the best way to get to everywhere we were going ("Gosh mom. Why do we have to go the long way? Can't we go the fast way? Ugh." --Jen(ny) as a young Google Maps know-it-all). But, I must admit, I love my Baby-Bear.

Noah is definitely a fine young man in the making. He is smart, expressive, caring, and stubborn (the stubborn part he gets from me, if I have to admit where that comes from). Blake is his BFF. He is concise when it comes to rules. He has no problems calling you out when you are wrong. He loves to run his fingers through my hair (oh how I love it when he does that!). He likes cinnamon raisin bagels, not toasted, hold the cream cheese. Aunt Joni's ribs are definitely his favorite food group. Cake, hold the ice cream. He loves Pokeman and Bachugan (spelling?), Tom and Jerry, SpongeBob SquarePants, and anything Star Wars. Shorts vs. Jeans? Hands down he will pick shorts, even with the thermometer starting to plunge to near freezing temperatures. His favorite scripture story is that of Ammon cutting off the arms of the Lamanite thieves (go figure, he's a boy ;). He is athletic (sometimes scary how much so). Wow. What a kid!

Here are some pictures from his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese last weekend. Noah, Blake and 6 of Noah's friends had a blast!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My

"Hold on, man. We don't go anywhere with 'scary',
'spooky', 'haunted', or 'forbidden' in the title. Zoiks!"
--Shaggy, From Scooby-Doo

The holiday season is upon us. I only say that because commercialism pushes it upon us, whether we are ready or not. I try to block out the candy, cheesy knick-knacks, costumes and blow-up lawn ornaments, but unless you turn to your food storage and forgo eating anything fresh, avoiding these things can be a very hard task. So, thus the holiday season begins.

Blake and Noah's school, Beacon Heights, had a carnival last Friday (October 24) for students and their families. It was a chance for all the kids to dress up in their Halloween costumes and have some fun. There was a Haunted House, a bouncy castle, face painting, cotton candy (bubble gum flavor...icky!), snow cones, tacos and quesadillas (though they didn't consult me on the food choices, they definitely decided with me in mind ;), and a ton of little carnival games. The boys dressed up--Noah as an Army guy and Blake as Boba Fet. Rob and Cristina dressed up as well, while Kary and I decided to dress up as ourselves. The kids had a great time. I actually enjoyed the adventure too.

After the carnival, Noah, Blake, Kary and I made our way back to Ogden to the closest Arctic Circle. Kary had conveniently found 4 (or maybe more ;) coupons for free ice cream cones. We got our ice creams and sat down for an intense trivia session. Kary tested Noah and Blake on their Star Wars knowledge. I'm pretty sure that the boys impressed him with the plethora of knowledge they possess. Overall, it was a great night!

Last Saturday (October 25) was a new adventure. Noah came and snuggled me around 8am and Blake followed shortly after. Blake and I started playing Mancala around 9am. Noah, half asleep, decided that he would start playing for me. One of the first things he said was, "Mom. What are we doing with Kary today? We didn't get to spend enough time with him yesterday." We didn't have plans because Kary is a tad bit obsessed with mowing a certain lawn. In addition to that, he is charitable with his time and volunteers at Thanksgiving Point. The last few weeks he's been helping with the children's Halloween festivities such as running carnival games and helping out with the pony rides. I called to see if the lawn did indeed grow this week. Kary just said he would go out the back and try not to look at the lawn that would be calling his name to trim it. I hate that I may have interupted the normal Saturday flow for Kary, but I have never seen Noah take to another guy, other than Rob before. So we quickly decided on Hogle Zoo.

The zoo was a mad house! We weren't aware that it was trick-or-treating day for the whole state of Utah at the zoo. There were so many people it was hard to move in any one direction. At first, I was a little irritated--mainly because of the number of people and my slight problem with being claustrophobic, but by the end of our time there I had mellowed out. Once we explained to the boys that we weren't going to stand in every forever long line for a piece of candy we had a wonderful time. My favorite animal moment happened while we were in one of the monkey enclosures. They were a smaller breed of monkey, orange in color, about the size of small cats. There were two sitting together facing the crowd. One held his hand up over the others eyes, as if there was something he wasn't allowed to see! Funny!

Now to the current week. Oh what a week. The weather has been beautiful! Mid to upper 60's the whole week. Too bad I've been sick! Not only have I been sick the last 2 weeks, but I'm pretty sure I got Kary and Mary sick too. I spent the majority of my week sleeping at Kary's after work. Kary gave me extra special treatment on Wednesday night. I got off a little early and went to Kary's house. Alice (Kary's mom) had made chicken soup. Mmmm...Then Kary took me down to the family room. He made a bed on the ground in front of the TV. Gave me a pair of snuggy pants to change into. Put his robe on me, then his beanie. He made me lay down. The next thing I knew I was waking up to multiple cups of hot chocolate--all different flavors. You see, Kary has an extensive hot chocolate collection. Not just one brand, one flavor, but every brand you can think of and then some! I don't know how many cups of chocolate I had, but I can tell you the Stephen's brand hot chocolate is the best! Kary did a wonderful job of taking care of me.

Friday (Halloween) was a great day. Very chill day at work. Most of the office staff dressed up. We had a scantily clad eskimo, a biker chick, a conehead, a cowgirl, a jailbird, and a wolf--about 7 feet tall! We ate way too much and then got off early. Rob had the boys for some early trick-or-treating so I hitched a ride with the wolf to Lindon to meet Kary. Kary and I went to his house, had some dinner and talked with his parents. We then went and picked the boys up to take them to Ogden to trick-or-treat at GUB and Joni's and Uncle Joe and Aunt Kathy's. That's about all we had time for because it was clear it was bedtime.

Overall, a great couple of weeks!!!