Under Construction

My dad stayed the whole week of Thanksgiving to frame my basement.

He's the best!

Here are the plans:

I'm pretty excited and this all makes me feel very grown up.

So, it's almost all framed and we're just waiting for Spring so we can put an outside door in. I really don't want all the construction coming through my house.

I'm so grateful to have such a talented father. I'm also excited to have Jordan and David live here this fall.

I got this in the mail yesterday. It was full of the most delicious chocolate.

My parents are so great!!

BINGO

I spent last weekend with a few members of my family in Lava Hot Springs, ID.

My mom grew up there as did my grandma and a few generations before them too. It's a sleepy little town (population 411 - no joke) with natural hot springs and an olympic size swimming pool complete with diving platforms and water slides.

In fact, my parents met at that pool. My mom was a lifeguard and my dad was there on a break from college. So, it's a pretty special place!!

A couple years ago, I blogged about my grandma's house and how it was almost completely destroyed by mold. Well, thankfully, the insurance company covered the loss and her house is completely new on the inside. It's pretty great.

This was the view from my window.

It was a super nice, relaxing weekend. I rode from Utah with Jordan, David, Cade and Krystal and we met my parents and my grandma and Aunt Launa there. It was so nice to get away. I read a 400 page book in 1.5 days. So nice to escape.

We (me, Dad, Cade, Krystal, Jordan and David) decided to try something new - on Saturday night, we headed to the Community Center to try our hand at BINGO. A friend of mine went a couple of months ago and loved it. He strongly suggested that we try it out and it was SO FUN! Seriously, not to be missed if you're ever in the area.

Cade got a Bingo! He won $33. Hooray!

One round was an "L with a postage stamp" to win. Dad was so close! Dang B9!

(His birthday is next week and I had a shirt made for him that says Lava Hot Springs Bingo on the front and B9 on the back. I hope he loves it!)

We had the chance to win $1199.99 on blackout but, sadly, we didn't. Cade was the only one in our group to get a Bingo. I hope we have better luck next time!

We were the only table without beer so, by default, we were the most boring table. There are some very interesting people at Bingo, that's for sure. But I was super impressed with some who were playing with 8 or 9 cards at a time. That's talent! The officiators were so funny too.They take Bingo very seriously.

I'm so excited to play again!

Cade's car is rear-wheel drive so we need a little help backing out of the driveway (did I mention it snowed pretty much the whole weekend?!).

We had the best weekend!

Top Secret

So, I can't wait any longer!

I have been wanting to post pix from David and Jordan's final wedding photo shoot, but Jordan told me I couldn't until they sent out their thank you cards.

Well, Jordan, you're taking way too long, so I'm posting them anyway...

(Please don't tell her!!)

We took these photos in Idaho - in Ketchum and Hailey and we had fun.

Well, as much fun as you can have hanging out in 20 degree weather.

Congrats to the happy couple!!

Incredible!

A few months ago, President Monson announced that charred remains of the Provo Tabernacle would be restored and built into a temple.

It was so, so devastating when the tabernacle burned but I am so excited for the new temple!

I was driving down University Avenue the other day and drove past the Tabernacle. It has been completely gutted and is literally just a shell. There is construction fencing all around the structure, so you can't see much, but I noticed that I could see daylight under the building. What? I was so confused!

A couple of days later, I made time to stop and check it out. They have literally removed all of the earth directly underneath the entire building and it is being held up by stilts.

It is definitely one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. (Well, I sorta saw it. I couldn't see too well through the fence, so I held my camera over the fence to get the following photos). I texted a picture to my dad and asked how in the world this was possible and he explained it a little and said that the building didn't move even a fraction of an inch. It completely blows my mind!

Can you see the truck and other machines parked underneath? That's a whole lot of trust!

I can't wait till Spring 2015 when the temple will be finished.

Tiny Spicy Chicken

One of the things I miss most about living in Logan is Tiny Spicy Chicken. I can't even remember the name of the restaurant, but it was some hole-in-the-wall Chinese place and I used to order Tiny Spicy Chicken a-la-carte for $6.95 and it would last for 3 meals.

I haven't had it in 6.5 years and I miss it!

So, I was feeling super adventurous the other day and thought I would just whip up a batch.

No big deal, right?

Well, it was a bigger deal than I thought. It took me just over 3 hours and I was so exhausted by the time it got done that I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have had I just hit the drive-thru.

Oh, AND, it was fast Sunday, so I didn't know it would take so long and I held off eating so that it would taste really, really good.

It was really good, but I was so tired - and starving that I didn't savor it as much as I should have. Good thing it's pretty good left-over too.

Hopefully I can get faster at making it or find a recipe that doesn't take so painfully long.

OR, find a restaurant in Utah County that has it on their menu. :)

I got the recipe here. It says it only takes 1.5 hours - but that's a lie!!

Childhood Pals

When I was young, we used to go camping with friends of my parents from college. We camped at Smokey Lodge by Alturas Lake in Idaho.

(I got this photo here).

All of the families had kids around our ages and we would spend a week each summer playing and laughing and having all sorts of awesome adventures. We found forts in the trees on the mountain and made up skits to perform in the lodge. We played for hours in the lake and made memories that will last a lifetime. What I remember most about our days at Camp Smokey was that we were always laughing. We had so much fun.

Two of the most memorable 'characters' were brothers named David and Russell. Those 2 had so much personality crammed into their little bodies that there was never a dull moment. I know there were other kids around, but I mostly remember hanging out with David and Russell. I still remember specific jokes they told and the sound of their infectious laughter.

I also remember that I didn't especially like them all that much. They were always together - always - and I guess I probably hung out with them by default because they were close to my age. I think David was a little older and Russell was a little younger.

In fact, Russell was really mean to me. He called me by my most hated nickname (not to be divulged on this blog) that he for sure heard from my brothers. AND, the worst part of Mr Russell was that whenever I walked across the large dirt area between the cabins and the lodge he would come out from behind a tree and run with all his might and knock me completely over. I really hated that kid. He made me so mad and when I complained about him to my mom, she just smiled and said that he only picked on me because he liked me.

Sure, whatever.


But, one time I was playing in the fort on the mountain above the lodge and I fell and cut my finger pretty badly. I still have a scar and my mom says that I would have had to have stitches if we had been closer to civilization. (I would probably be a concert pianist if I had been properly treated -- ha!) I remember I was so sad and in quite a bit of pain. After my mom disinfected the cut and wrapped my finger up super tight, I laid on the couch in the caretaker's cabin and just felt sorry for myself. Russell may have been super annoying to me most of the time, but he sat on that couch with me for a very long time just to make sure I was okay. So sweet.

We didn't live close to David and Russell's family so I didn't see them very often and our annual camping trips stopped when my family moved to Hailey when I was 10. In fact, the next time I remember seeing either of them was when I was in college and I was visiting their ward for one of my cousin's mission reports or farewells. It was between meetings and the foyer of the church was super packed as people pushed their way in or out of the chapel. I was slowly making my way into the chapel when from clear down a side hallway I heard - in a booming voice over all the heads of the all people (Russell had gotten really tall) - my most hated nickname. I immediately knew who it was without even looking and I refused to encourage this awful behavior by paying any attention to it. However, ignoring the problem did not make it go away, he just started yelling it louder until I gave him my most convincing glare. Which, actually, didn't stop him either. He eventually made his way over to me to harass me more with a huge grin on his face.

I have no doubt they grew up to be awesome men because they are from a great family and they were such cool kids (at least when they weren't torturing me).


A couple of months ago, I received very sad news that Russell passed away. About a month later, my mom called to tell me that David also died. Even though I can't say that I knew either of them much past the age of 10, I am so sad for their sweet family and everyone affected by this tragedy. I have great memories of those warm summer days of sunburns, too much candy and lots of laughter at Camp Smokey. I hope their family can find peace in this difficult time.

I stole this photo from Russell's Facebook page.

So Nice

This is what I found on my desk when I came back from lunch from a sweet co-worker...

...a definite bright spot in a painfully average day.