Extreme Weather

Apparently our decision to go camping on Memorial Day Weekend encourages Mother Nature to bring on the extreme weather. Last year, we attempted a camping trip at Big Lake and got stuck in the snow (yeah, almost June and stuck in the snow). This year, the rain almost kept us from our camping trip at Bear Canyon Lake.

Jason, James and Clara went up Friday morning to set up our tents. Jason's friend Dan later joined them. After work, my mom, Lily, Lily's friend and I drove up. I was extremely surprised that there was absolutely no traffic driving into or out of Payson. It was, however, about half-way up the Rim that we entered some extreme fog. We could see about 10 feet in front of us, if we were lucky, so seeing the signs was impossible, not to mention reading them. We missed our turn, but figured it out pretty quickly. After turning around, we turned down the wrong road (seriously, you couldn't see a thing), but soon realized that was the wrong one too. Fortunately, the third time was the charm. Unfortunately, the fog was still there. I took over the driving and had to keep my eyes glued on the five or so feet of the center line that I could see to avoid driving off the road. It was actually a pretty exciting little adventure and we just laughed and laughed the whole way. I especially laughed when my mom told me to slow down because I was bruising her avocados. Maybe we'd just been in the car too long, but it was funny. That night it was so wet that even after a roll of paper towels and a whole bottle of lighter fluid, we didn't get a fire going. The next day it rained about half the day, off and on, but we still hiked down to the lake to visit the fisherman. When a thunderstorm started heading in, we decided to hike back to camp. I was holding Clara's hand and a huge pile of wood while trying to hike up this mountain. Once it started to rain, Dan took the wood and I took his tackle box so we could walk faster. It started raining harder but no lightening and thunder until about five feet from camp, there was a super bright light (for a split second I was so confused wondering who was taking a picture of me) and then a LOUD, startling crash of thunder. It scared all of us. Clara burst into tears because she had no clue what happened. We sat in the car for a bit while the storm calmed.

On Sunday we went walking and exploring. James caught a cute little baby horny toad. Clara patted Jason's "grass" on his face. I ate about 15 servings of Boston Baked Beans. Seriously. I'd grab a handful, pop it all in my mouth and enjoy. Then I read the back: eleven, ELEVEN pieces make up one serving. I laughed; for me, that was literally ONE bite. Overall, the weather was beautiful. It hardly rained at all and that night, we had a fantastic fire. Dan cooked our steaks on the fire for dinner and then after staying up late talking, we shut off all the lights and just stared at the starry sky. We all agreed that stars alone are promise there is a Supreme Being.

Clara's pretty little camping manicure.

On Monday, Clara and I slept in... it was at least 8:30 before we got up, which is sleeping in any day, but especially while camping. After breakfast, we left to hike to the lake, only to find the fishermen on their way back hoping to avoid anymore rain. I was bummed we only got down to the lake once, but I'm over it. The traffic into Payson was a bit of a pain, but the fact that it started hailing made me forget about it. Oh, and Clara "makin' my funny face".

At my parent's house I sat in their front yard for a bit watching the flag wave around. I am grateful for those who have fought and those who do fight for our Country. We are so blessed.

My top ten favorite things about camping: 1. the blue, blue sky and the white, white clouds 2. the STARS! (oh my, the STARS!) 3. the crisp, clean smell of mountain air 4. NO cell phones or internet, which means it's the only time I feel completely relaxed 5. campfires 6. no need for hairspray (on the 3rd day of no shower, the grease holds your hair in place better than any hairspray) 7. no concept of time... 8. afternoon naps 9. visiting and eating for a good portion of the day and 10. realizing how little you need to survive and to enjoy life

And me least favorite thing about camping? My house gets sick and throws up when we get home. Since I've been busy working and playing with Clara, it's taking a long time to clean it all up. Good thing there are ten favorites and only one least favorite...

Flashback Friday: Not So Long Ago

Okay, it's only the third week of this game and I'm already getting lazy. But when you see how cute these are, perhaps you'll forgive me.

I love looking back at pictures when Clara was younger (as if she's incredibly old now) because her little personality almost always accompanies her sweet little face (that I always want to squeeze). She looks so different now, yet I still see the same mannerisms and expressions, only on a toddler not a baby. If I had paid more attention to the foreshadowing, it's possible I wouldn't be so surprised each day with her awesomeness... PS These were taken when Clara was 14 months old and yes, it makes me want another one... just like her.

At Least It's Not Me

I just hate it when my house gets sick and throws up.

Flashback Friday: Awesome Jackets

Looking through pictures often leaves me emotionally overwhelmed. So much happiness, but so much sadness when you see certain things that are different. People that are gone (and not just physically). I remember nothing from my picture for today. It's me with my three older siblings (Rachel left, Emily middle, Ryan boy) and my cousin Kristie (top right) that lived with us. So why did I pick this picture? The jackets. Awesome jackets times three. And Ryan's is definitely worth mentioning too. And why else? I looked at our happy faces. I thought of my mom taking the picture. I thought of her trials before this picture... and I thought of them since the picture. She's been through a lot, yet we were still happy. She's still happy. I'm glad we don't know what trials are in our future. Instead, we get to spend the present working on dealing with our current trials, preparing ourselves and our children for things that may come our way and focusing on being happy and enjoying life.

Waste Not, Want Not

I have a really hard time buying something I don't need, which is most everything I buy. We need food, but do we need that much and that kind? No, not really. We need clothes, but do we need all those clothes? Definitely not. Knowing that, let me share my cell phone timeline with you:

April 2008: Clara snapped my phone in half, started using Karen's old phone (PS you can transfer phone numbers with only the bottom half of your phone, it just has to turn on).

August 2008: I snapped my phone in half on the way to California. I didn't want to drive home without a phone (Jason had left his charger at home), so Nikki gave me her old phone with a battery that lasted not more than 10 minutes. Conveniently, I had the older version of the phone and swapped out the battery.

October 2008: Decided to buy a new phone (it'd been almost three since I had a new phone). Went to the Verizon store only to find out they changed the new every two to $50 instead of $100... decided to wait until the phone I wanted got cheaper (aka FREE).


January 2009: I started telling Jason I'd get a new phone (a nice one too, a Blackberry even) when I got a new client.


March 2009 (two new clients later): Right side of phone broke off, but it still worked, was just a little fragile.

March 2009: Stepped on phone while charging, now requires serious rigging to get it to charge (the bottle of fabric glue, the hair tie and the glass were all needed to get it to charge).
April 2009: Phone fell off counter and I thought phone was unrepairable, but Danny saved it for me (yeah! I can put off buying a phone longer).
May 12, 2oo9: Decided I could justify buying a new phone, just not a Blackberry ($30 extra a month becomes $720 over the 2 year contract... see how much headache this brain of mine gives me?)

May 14, 2009: Battery is almost dead and I couldn't get it to charge. I panicked. We don't have a house phone... so no cell phone means no phone. That doesn't really work when you are trying to manage your own business. I tried ordering a new phone, but I couldn't with my current calling plan. I called Verizon and my phone died. Eventually, I got it to charge again.

May 19, 2009 (AM): Called Verizon, got plan changed and prorated so I can order the phone I wanted to buy in October 2008.

May 19, 2009 (PM): Started thinking maybe the phone I wanted could be better, just in case I need e-mail on my phone in the future. Besides, if I'm going to buy myself a new phone, first phone I will actually pay for (I can't remember the last time I got a new phone that wasn't free after rebates), I want it to be nice.

May 20, 2009: Decided at 3:55PM to buy a phone. If I ordered by 4:30PM, I'd get free overnight shipping. The Verizon person that was chatting with me asked me what features were most important to me. #1: That I can talk to people on it. #2: That I can charge it. I didn't tell her that, I just ignored her question. I read some reviews and decided in about five minutes to change to order a different one.

May 21, 2009: My new phone came. Yeah for me.

No more stress about having my phone die before I replace it. However, a little piece of me is still accepting the fact that my old phone still works but I'm not using it. In fact, for a second I considered using my old phone until it completely broke. I hate getting rid of things that still work, I feel so wasteful. I like to wear things to death and if I upgrade, it's because something is no longer usable, not just because I can and not just because I want to.

I am ridiculous. :)

I Dare Myself

I have been dreading another post. It's hard to compete with such a lovely picture. How could I possibly have something more exciting than that to blog about? I don't. But don't worry, exciting or not, I have had something on my mind.

Angela decided not to eat sugar for two months. I lied and said I'd try to do it with her. Never did I intend on committing to such an awful thing. Sugar keeps me ALIVE. Last month I have at least four pictures of Clara licking beaters from making treats.

But then that thought ran into another random thought in my brain...

A while ago I read a book by Steven W. Allen called Founding Fathers Uncommon Heroes. The first man discussed is Benjamin Franklin and one of the most fascinating things I remember reading about him was his desire to be morally perfect. He picked 13 virtues (which, by the way, are all fantastic) and made charts in a notebook he carried around and put a little black dot by the virtues he wasn't perfect in for that day. I've thought about this a lot in the years since I've read the book (it's been at least 6, I believe), always amazed at this lofty goal.

While I don't think I'm quite ready to commit to being perfect in 13 virtuous areas, especially all at once, I've decided I do need to work on self mastery. So every month, I'm going to have a new "thing" that I will strive to be perfect in. For one month, I will, for the first time in my life, go on a sugar-free diet. I'm kind of having a panic attack thinking about it, but it will just be for a month (a month I'm trying to strategically pick that will have less temptations... :)). Other "things" I've considered: no eating out, exercising 6 days a week, not going to bed with dirty dishes in the kitchen, going to bed before Midnight every night, etc. My goal isn't to stay perfect after the trial month, but rather to develop better habits. So instead of going to bed six nights a week with dirty dishes in the kitchen (like now), maybe someday I will go to bed six nights a week with NO dirty dishes in the kitchen.

So, wish me luck and please give me some ideas of "things" I could pick to do each month.

Introducing: Flashback Friday

I have been getting tired of my FOF's lately... not because I don't like them, but sometimes they are boring. Plus, I feel restricted to post a list only on Friday, which was lame when I had a cool list another day of the week. I want to post a list whenever I want, and rest assure, I'll still post lists.

Last week, I got carried away and looked through almost EVERY SINGLE photo I own, that is not digital, with Clara. I thought it might be fun to start Flashback Fridays. I will post a picture with a little story. Sometimes the picture will be funny, sometimes it will be embarrassing, sometimes it will just be a fond memory, but always it will have a story. Here are five reasons this is going to be great:

1. Several photos are sure to make you laugh (just wait until you see what I've got for today)
2. If you've known me long enough, you might just see yourself (like it or not)
3. You will be reminded of lovely fashions
4. It will help me document the memories associated with the photos (so often I can look at a picture and remember conversations and things that happened when the photo was taken)
5. If my house ever burns down, at least I'll have some of my non-digital photos scanned in

To make sure I don't lose hope in you, I've decided to include one of my most embarrassing pictures for today.

At least 10 years ago, we did glamour shots for a mutual (church youth group) activity. Between the lighting, my hair, that brooch, those earings and my awesome green corduroy shirt, there is nothing glamorous about it. But it's a flashback, and a funny one at that. I'm pretty sure this is funnier than any FOF ever was...

Be Prepared

Now that I've thrown a successful pity party for myself, I guess I'm ready to post something else. Seriously, thanks for not hating me for complaining.

I have lots of opinions. Surprise! Okay, not really a surprise to anyone who knows me. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about preparedness... physical preparedness.

Food Storage

I had to laugh when a lady I work with found out I was Mormon and her first question to me involved food storage. Not about Temples, not about polygamy, not about any of the things most LDS people are frequently questioned over, but food storage. Growing up, we always had a food storage. When my dad lost his job, I watched my mom creatively feed our family, and anyone who happened to be at our house, stuff she'd prepared almost completely (if not completely) from our food storage. I knew our basic needs would be met because my mother had taken the time to prepare. This experience helped me realize we might not ever use our food storage in the event of a major catastrophe, but that's not the only time you might need it.

Fast forward to life now. Not long ago, we had very little money (as in almost none) for groceries. Between my favorite spec home depleting our savings, one of our FIXED RATE mortgages increasing nearly $300 a month and Jason's income being cut 40%, we had a few pretty tough months. However, I knew that we would be able to provide for one of our most basic physical needs. I knew we would be able to put food on the table. I certainly didn't have a year supply of food, but I had a reserve because I'd bought a little here and there when things weren't so exciting. Furthermore, we weren't starved for nutrients. We still had lots of fruits and vegetables and plenty of grains. The fruits and vegetables weren't fresh, but frozen and canned is better than none at all. There were many days I felt so grateful that I had my food storage. My stomach was very grateful too.

Financially

You might find it laughable that I'm offering my financial opinion considering the predicament we're currently in. But, I'm still going to do it. Another thing I learned growing up is the importance of avoiding debt. Building a spec home was to be an investment (which is how I justified the debt) and with the information I had, I never thought I'd still own that property three years later. At the time we chose to do it, the only debt we had was the mortgage on our house here. Our cars were paid off, we had no credit card balances and no student loans. Because of this, we were able to cut our expenses quite a bit, which allowed us the ability to continue making the mortgage payment. If we had other debt obligations, that might not have been the case and I was often grateful we had avoided debt minus two mortgages... Kind of ironic, I know, maybe hypocritical, but hopefully you get my point.

The counsel we always hear in the church to avoid debt, have a financial reserve and have a food storage seems common sense to me. Through various experiences, my testimony of the importance of following this counsel has been strengthened. But on top of that, it really just seems like a no-brainer. What's funny is I've been hearing people on TV and the radio talk about how we should be storing a little extra food and money. Maybe we'll never need to use the reserves, but the peace of mind it gives us is worth a lot. (Trust me, it's much easier to put on your happy face for a little one when you know they have plenty of food to eat). And if you ever do have to rely on your reserves, you will be very, very grateful you have it.
Don't everyone come rob me at once, now.

Emotional Battering

Yesterday I talked about my physical battering, which was a little funny. Today, it's the emotional battering, which isn't so funny (unless it's used for deep frying my emotions, then it might be funny).


You see, we have this house in Utah that we can't sell. Haven't heard about it? Too bad, so sad. Everything about it is awesome. Recently, we had a family ask if they could lease it from us and buy it in a year. They told me all about their current situation, their plans, etc., etc. They divulged a lot and were set on our house. I was a little skeptical because renting would make it used and who knows if they'd stick to the agreement, but I felt really, really good about the situation. I fasted and prayed and still felt good. I agreed to their offer and wasn't quite sure how to react: I felt I should be excited that it was probably sold in a year. Now that sounds odd. Happy, nonetheless, I told a few people and was waiting to get a signed contract.


Early Monday morning I got an e-mail saying they decided to go a different route. Not that I expected everything to go smoothly, because nothing with this house has gone smoothly. But really, after everything he told me, I was totally shocked.


I've felt betrayed on several occasions. It's hard for me every time it happens, but I know I can't control people so I sort through my feelings, work around it and move on. One type of betrayal I've learned is especially difficult to deal with involves betrayal by my own personal feelings. It seems that house has done nothing but that. Everything about the aforementioned situation made sense. I felt good about it (kind of like when we made the decision to do this in the first place... ha ha, I mean, wait, that's not funny). Just the day before, another person was interested in renting it and the feelings were totally different. It didn't "make sense". When things like this happen, my first thought is to blame myself. I get angry at my feelings for "betraying" me. I feel hurt that my feelings would trick me. (Do I sound like I need a therapist yet? :)) Why did I feel good about it if it was going to end up like this? Currently, deciphering my feelings is one of life's biggest challenges for me (maybe Jason agrees?). It's frustrating, it's discouraging and it leaves me feeling pretty lousy. And then when I can't figure out what I'm supposed to be learning from something like this (because certainly not trusting myself is not a good thing), I get even more frustrated. Life goes on... (surprise, surprise).

Hate It When That Happens

To celebrate Machelle's birthday this year, we went kayaking on the Salt River. We missed Jen and I'm sure she missed seeing me doing a not-so-awesome trick.

You see, in planning this event, Nylene wrote in her e-mail: "yes there are rapids and yes you will survive and not die". I'm pretty sure this was because I've repeatedly expressed to her my slightly sarcastic fear of kayaking down the river. I wasn't really afraid of tipping, but what if I tipped and bashed my head on a rock? Or scraped my body up? It wasn't the water that scared me, but the rocks.
Off we went. Chris drove us to the river, loaded us up and took lots of awesome pictures for me. I wanted one of us, but he just kept taking pictures. He even stopped at some point down the river to snap some pictures of us. He took pictures like I would have if I wasn't the one in the kayak. Anyway, when we got on the river, it was probably only about 6:30am. It was beautiful. I told myself I should wake up that early more often. It was cool, the water was serene and there were birds everywhere. Plus, we were just floating peacefully on the water. Staying upright wasn't as difficult as I had envisioned. We went on our way, having a fantastic time. It was the most relaxing and enjoyable thing I've done in quite some time. It was lovely.

If only my story ended there, I might not be so sore.

You see, the water was really low. Low water means the rocks are easier to come in contact with. We went down the first two sets of rapids and Nylene kept warning us about the third one, the 'big one'. She said we'd be okay if we kept our kayaks pointing forward since they don't tip unless they turn sideways. She also warned us about the big rock in the middle and told us to stay to the right. I was determined to stay to the right, which I did. And I did it well. A little too well actually. Because shortly into the 'big one', I realized I was about to run into a tree hanging over from the bank. I pushed myself away just in time, but about ten feet later, there was another, lower tree. It would've smacked me even if I ducked, so I put my hands up to grab it. As I did, my kayak turned sideways and... well... at that point, there's not much you can do. The water was moving so swiftly so over went my kayak and out I went. I tried to grab the oar, but felt my wedding ring start slipping off and decided that'd be a little more expensive to replace than the oar. So away went my shoes, away went the oar and away went the kayak.

I had a hard time standing because the water was moving so fast that it was always on the verge of sweeping my feet out from underneath me. A little ways down, my kayak got stuck on a rock. 100% of the bottom was against the water flow, so it was extremely difficult to pull it off the rock . I don't think people realize how strong and heavy water it is. Pushing something with that much surface area against fast flowing water was a lot of work, especially when I could barely stand without being knocked over. It's a good thing my adrenaline was going and that prayers can be answered quickly. Once I freed the kayak, it rushed past me and I just kind of floated/slid to the end of the rapid. It reminded me of playing at Slide Rock, except my feet and knees got incredibly banged up. Between trying to stand in the rushing water and move the kayak and being smashed into rocks when I was trying to float down, I got lots of bruises.

I finallymade it to where Nylene and Machelle had pulled off. Fortunately, they got both my kayak and my oar. My flip flops were gone, but we found one later on. I was very grateful I didn't lose anything else. It was a little scary, but I didn't really come close to dying, so it wasn't that scary. I don't think people realize how rapidly the water in that spot was moving. The water was moving just fast enough and was just deep enough that it took me out a few of the times I tried to stand up. There's a chance I'm being a wee bit over dramatic, but I've gotta make sure everyone realizes this was no laughing matter.

Nylene says it was funny to turn around and see my hanging on the tree seconds before my kayak tipped and I fell into the water. The visual makes me laugh too.

Machelle says she laughed when the fishermen told her she needed to go help me. I laughed and said she should've told them she wasn't a salmon.

And then, other than being a little cold and wet, the morning returned to a beautiful peaceful row down the river. Chris asked if I really tipped. I told him I just wanted to go for a swim. I should've told him I just wanted my legs to look like bananas. Seriously, I keep finding new bruises. The worst is my right foot. I bruised my heel and just found a big sore bruise under my ankle bone. Poor, poor Anna.

The next half of the river was much calmer. Dirtier, but calmer. A bald eagle flew across the river in front of us. We saw several other birds too. I kept thinking I wish I had my camera (but was really glad I didn't). I was pleasantly surprised when I found this picture Chris had taken for me. These guys were all over.

All in all, it was awesome. I love being that close to nature. Next time I'd just leave my ring at home, wear shoes that won't come off and avoid rocks and trees. All this time I was afraid of the rocks making me tip and I should've been afraid of the trees. Silly me.