Yard Sale!

On Saturday we had the yard sale we'd been talking about for months. Shawn had 4 roommates before we got married and they didn't really take everything with them when they left. I'd warned them on more than one occasion that we weren't a storage facility and on Saturday my wildest dreams came true. (That's not to say we didn't have our own junk to sell, because we certainly did...someone though had a hard time letting go of any of his 11, yes 11 winter coats...)

It all started on Monday, Labor Day, Shawn and I both had the day off and we cleaned out our basement closet as well as our laundry room. We reorganized what we were keeping (Shawn and I both found out how many Christmas ornaments I really had) and we piled up the rest for sale. Shawn's old roommate Greg came over for his couch, his TV, VCR, DVD combo and his entertainment stand. (See sometimes threats do work.)

We purged. I was actually really surprised at the turnout since we'd been warned that yard sales in our area didn't work. We, in the townhouses are by far the paupers of our area, every other house within a 10 mile radius is at least a half a million dollar home and allegedly people who live in those homes don't shop yard sale. Go figure. I guess bright red lettered signs and posting on two websites paid off. See the fruits of our labor below.

Antelope Island = Sister Torture

My sister Amber was in town on a work trip last week and what a time we had. When Amber and I get together the Pennsylvania accent comes on real strong (please read with inflection). We're pretty sure we annoy everyone around us and we definitely giggle as they attempt the PA hick talk. Not everyone has the gift we've been blessed with.

As much fun as Amber has talking like a hick, she definitely doesn't enjoy hick-like past times. Including but not limited to going to National Parks to look at wild life. (I told her that she should just pick Park City and Shawn would be fine with it but she left it up to him and this is where we went.) Yes this is a big shot of my hind end and no Shawn is not struggling to hold me.

We dipped our toes in the Great Salt Lake where they say the largest living organism is the brine shrimp (or sea monkey.) Well, that might be so...in the water...but right at the shore where they bird poop filled sea touches the sandy shore there are gnats a' plenty and as you walk into the water they part like the Red Sea. I promise you this is not an exaggeration. Amber wanted to die and in her opinion she still could because she's convinced she caught something from the less than sanitary water. I put in this picture of Shawn's foot so that maybe if you click on it to enlarge you'll see what Amber was calling "loogies" floating on the top of the water.

On the bright side we saw many buffalo (which Amber practically wanted me to hop on the back of in the manor of 8 Seconds) and a few antelope and maybe even burned off a few calories hiking around.

Primary Class Party

So I've gotten behind but I want to post picture from our party because it's fun.

Shawn and I teach Sunday School to the 10 year olds in our congregation. It's a lot of fun even though we only have one girl and the boys get a little rowdy. 2 Saturdays ago Shawn and I hosted a party for our Primary class because they earned it. Earned it? You say? Yes, we've put in place a point system to promote reverence so we can get through our lessons.

Our class could earn up to 10 points a week and once they got to 200 we would throw them a pizza party. Well, it was long and hard but they made it. We had pizza, video games, a silly string fight, make your own dessert pizza and awards.

Over all I'd say it was a success and the kids are striving to be extra good to earn enough points to have a Christmas party (we might throw them a bone if they don't make it anyway, it's Christmas after all).

True Story

Last night Amy (Lindseth) and I went to dinner and a few stores at the Gateway (an outdoor mall).  When we were in one store Amy held up a scrap of cloth and said "what is this?"  to which I replied, "I don't know..."  at which point I think we said in unison "a headband?"  "a bra?" I guessed. Then Amy looked at the tag, "Animal Print Tube Top" it said.  

What a world!  Confusing what is essentially a shirt for a hair accessory.  We were laughing pretty hard. 

I Cried With a Fellow ...Human

I've read a blog or two out there about how people have been brought to tears by the emotional impact the Olympics have had on them. They've cried for joy for Michael Phelps, sadness for Alicia Sacramone and amazement for Dara Torres or even frustration for what might be an "illegal" team of Chinese gymnasts. I'm not going to say that these stories haven't stirred emotion in me, they definitely have, I've even misted a few times but last night an actual tear fell.

It surprised me because I was crying for a Chinese girl when I was a hard core American cheerleader. It surprised me because just a moment before the tear actually fell I had cheered for Cheng Fei's fall, securing what I thought would be a gold for Shawn Johnson.

But then they showed this poor 20 year old girl crying for her short coming and I was forced to mentally replay the story that the commentator told just a few days ago. Cheng Fei was chosen when she was 3 years old to go be a gymnast due to her natural abilities. At times she would call her parents crying that she wanted to go home and quit gymnastics because she was home sick. Her parents made her tough it out because her abilities were the best hope her family had for a secure future. She was 3 years old, not even really a child but a toddler.

And she fell. She fell doing something she has done probably hundreds of times flawlessly. And even though I thought the same thing about Alicia Sacramone when she missed her flip up onto the beam in the team finals I can't help but think how much better Alicia's life is simply for being an American.

Olympic lessons learned: #1 Everyone deserves to win because they literally work their entire lives for these mere moments. #2 Everyone is a child of God, Chinese and American and in that moment I felt for my sister. #3 I'm so blessed to be an American because leaving my parents at the age of 3 to secure my family's future just wasn't even an option.

I know this sounds super cheesy but it really was a crazy moment for me.

Oregon-Washington-Oregon-Washington

It was a bittersweet weekend for the Lindseth family. Shawn's father's father passed away and many of us trekked to the Vancouver-Portland area to celebrate his life and spend time together. We left on Wednesday afternoon and didn't arrive until about 3 a.m. The drive wasn't terrible since I discovered a way for myself to read in the car without getting sick. I finished Breaking Dawn!

Our first day there was full of site-seeing thanks to Shawn's Aunt Connie who was a wonderful and gracious tour guide. She took us to the idyllic Sauvie's Island just outside of Portland where my father-in-law and his family lived for about 12 years. It was amazing. This is a picture of the only store on the island during their childhood where they would run up charges on the family tab with candy and lay on the branches of a big tree while they ate it. I'm not making it up. Maybe Connie and Chris did but I'm just repeating what they said.


Across the street from the store was a peach orchard. Pick your own they said, so we did just that. Aside from the earwigs it was lovely. (I am not a girl who is afraid of bugs but I HATE earwigs.)

After lunch at Burgerville where they boast only the freshest Oregon's own Tillamook cheese, Washington Walla Walla onions and fresh Oregon Raspberries in their shakes we took off for Astoria. Another amazingly beautiful place. No wonder such a classic like Goonies was shot there. Later on we even went to a rocky beach where I swear I saw One-Eyed Willie peek out from behind a rock.
Here we are at Louis and Clark's camp. Connie said if we didn't go there we'd never see it and we had to see it to check it off on our list of National Parks. It was crazy to think of them making their way across the country, how miserable and wet they must have been. Amy couldn't resist touching the museum's objects. Tisk tisk Amy, I can't believe that you didn't listen to your father when he said not to touch anything.

And then we took off to the Oregon Coast. It was balmy and beautiful. Even though it was only 55 degrees there it felt nice to be out of Utah's blazing heat and to dip our toes in the Pacific. Here's Amy with her Dad. We even saw some people out there boogy boarding. One girl doing it in a bikini. Um, my toes were numb so I'm really not sure what she was thinking. This beach is where Shawn's dad would come when he was visiting his grandmother. (I think I got that right, so many stories in such a short time). Her house was within short walking distance. Connie lamented not being able to go unless her mom would come because was too young. Oh the plight of the youngest child!
This below with the rocks and the birds is Cannon Beach. It was gorgeous as well. Cute town, beautiful beach. There is also a lighthouse just to the right of this shot but I didn't want to overwhelm this post with pictures because I took TONS.
The next day we went to down town Portland and shopped and ate. I don't know why I didn't take pictures there but I forgot.

And pedicures, turns out you can get them anywhere you go so you know, we had to make sure that they were the same. This is Haylee (I'm not sure how she spells it) Connie's daughter and the cousin of my husband and all the way on the other end is her beau Jason. They are far apart because it took a while to convince him to do it with us. What fun we had.
I didn't get a lot of pictures of the other family members because they wern't tourists with us but we had fun at the house. Thanks to Julie and her hospitality, I think we had 20 people there one night. And we even dyed Shawn's Aunt Robbie's hair. It made me feel like I was in college again.

My Golden Birthday!

What a day. We had to get up early for our Primary parade and carnival but don't worry my father called at 7am anyway (does the man know me at all?).

After the Primary activity we went home and Shawn bestowed many gifts upon me including: a guitar, a CD, a DVD and a teapot that matches my kitchen. I LOVE all of them because, I once had a very cheap guitar that was nearly impossible to play and I've wanted a nice one for a while, I like Fergie because her music makes me want to move, I love Bridget Jones Diary because it is just a great movie for many reasons and with our ClearPlay it'll be wonderful to own and quite frankly I like to accessorize my themed kitchen (I guess I'm like my mother.)

After we opened gifts we went to Deer Creek Reservoir to kayak. I'd never done it before and I really enjoyed it. It was totally fun getting splashed by the wakes of the boats passing by. No actual action shots because we might have tipped so I left the camera behind...but we didn't tip.

Bridal Veil Falls was on fire (well not the falls themselves but you get the idea). Which was pretty crazy to see since it wasn't that far from the road.

For dinner we went to Happy Sumo with Amy Lindseth and April and George Gallagher and let me tell you I was in Heaven. I LOVE HAPPY SUMO. It makes me happy. I love tempera veggies, I loved the Vegas roll, the sunset roll, the panda roll and the edemame.

To top it all of we had Costco chocolate cake which we're still eating, I had some for breakfast. It was a great birthday.