Happy Birthday to ME!!!

I've never been a real fan of my birthday. Not because I was shorted on birthday parties because I wasn't or even birthday presents because I generally got what I wanted. More so it stems from the fact that things never really go as planned on my birthday. On my 16th birthday my mom took me to Cedar City to get my drivers license. I was so excited. I had on my new outfit and my hair looked cute, I was determined to rock the drivers license picture. However, when we pulled up the DMV was closed that day. They had to change the day they went to some other town that week. Yep, cried all the way home! My mom told me I'd have to wait until they came to Beaver and that was going to be in two weeks. That didn't help the situation. When my dad got home and saw how devastated I was he felt bad and we went over during his prep the next day and got my drivers license. On my 18th birthday I had to go to a track meet and stand in the cold freezing rain in Cedar and I was still very depressed from my Sterling Scholar defeat the night before. The day before my 26th birthday I had to leave to coach a track meet and the vice principal took my class for the last 10 minutes in the day. I honestly don't know how she did it but my classroom was TRASHED with confetti and shredded paper, balloons and my favorite the "Over the Hill" signs plastered all over my classroom. I walked in and literally cried. It took me two hours to clean it up. My seniors felt so bad they didn't say a word and just helped me clean. She meant well and everyone else thought it was great but I was just reminded that I was getting older. So after that being in school on my birthday was not longer an option. I plotted and planned and scheduled places to be...anywhere but school. The last couple of years I was able to take personal days and I would head up to Salt Lake and spend the day with Jana, Brett (after he got home from classes and work) and Jovie and Brock. Jana and I (even before the kids) would spend time shopping, eating at our favorite place The Olive Garden and last year we ended the day with a movie and Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcakes. I loved it. Jana's birthday is a few days before mine and so it was a fun celebration for both of us. Last year I went so far as to convince my Principal to send me to the gang conference for two days so I didn't have to go to school.

This year I had to be inventive. Brett and Jana are in Washington now and I couldn't make it up there for the weekend (no money...I hate that!). So I decided to take matters into my own hands and throw myself a little party with the help of Nikki, Mom and Dad and Brandon and Jeanette. I decided to take a personal day and not go to school that day. I was going to sleep in, watch a movie and wait for Nikki to get home from school. Nikki and I were going to go shopping, get a pedicure and whatever else we decided to do. Then later on Mom, Dad, Brandon and Jeanette were going to drive to St. George and we were going to have dinner at the Olive Garden. I sent Jana a gift card to Olive Garden for her birthday so I was hoping they would all head there that night so we could have dinner together. I should know better than to plan my perfect day because nothing ever goes right.

In the wee hours of the morning I heard the power in my house go off (not an unusual thing in Parowan). I thought to myself. Oh well I don't have to get up on time this morning and back to sleep I went. The next thing I know I am looking at a text from my friend Jeani that reads: "The power is out and won't be back on until noon. School has been cancelled!" NOOOOOOOOOOO! I jumped out of bed, stormed around my house and once again cried at the injustices of the world. Of course the one day I take off, school is cancelled and now I have provided entertainment for anyone who reads or hears this story... AWESOME!

Well I can't get ready because their is no electricity, it's raining and snowing outside, I receiving texts from faculty members laughing while wishing me Happy Birthday, my mom laughed hysterically on the phone when I called her, Brandon called to tell me I was half way to 70, Jeanette called worried about the roads, Jana laughed but had more sympathy than anyone else in the family (thanks Jana), my friend Shannon laughed, felt bad and then distracted me for an hour on the phone. Because I couldn't get ready at my house I packed up and headed to Nikki's. I went to get gas and remembered the gas pumps didn't work and so I had to risk driving to Cedar City. I made it...barely, gassed up and pulled up to Nikki's house at the same time she did. We were going to get ready for our afternoon of shopping but Coley Moley got sick. It was just too sad and hard to take him out so Nikki and I stayed in for the afternoon, made lunch and watched movies. We watched Romana and Bezus. Loved the movie...so much so I was going to be late for my own birthday dinner. I had to mad dash around and get ready. Cole was feeling better so Nikki decided to venture out with him. Mom, Dad, Brandon and Jeanette were on their way. Because it was Friday night we had to wait an hour but it was well worth it and everyone was a good sport about it. See since the Weight Watchers days began I have missed the Olive Garden and Fettuccine Alfredo and I was splurging that night. Every bit was wonderful. Even Brandon and Dad found meals to eat that they loved. We had a great time! Afterwards Nikki said we had to go back to the house that she had a surprise and she had planned a fun surprise. Mom made my favorite birthday cake and Nikki skyped Brett, Jana, Jovie and Brock, to the party. It was awesome! I loved it...!!!! Jovie was hilarious as always showing me her "sparkly" shoes every time Brock tried to talk. It was fun to see everyone.

So even though my birthday started out rough and a bit dramatic the day was salvaged by my AWESOME family. Thanks everyone for making the day fun for me!!! Here are a few pictures of the day!

Me wandering around my house...extremely frustrated with the power outage!

This is what I woke up to outside. The weather was the cause of the power outage. Darn the cold and snow!

Trying to get mom and dad to smile for a picture. It took a few times.

Finally!

How cute are my brothers and sisters? Cole just loves Brandon...that face is priceless!

I know I need a fire extinguisher!

I tried to get all the candles blown out but I came up one short.

Coley Moley hanging out smiling at all the craziness in his house.

Nikki and Mom...Nikki posing...Mom avoiding!

Brandon helping!

Jeanette looking great!

Rounding out the party goers...Dad and Roxy...chillin!

Notre Dame

It has been a long time in coming for me to blog about the Notre Dame trip. Jana and my mom and waited patiently (though really I think they have given up on me entirely). Last year at this time we all found out the the University of Utah was going to play Notre Dame in South Bend IN. It didn't take us all very long to decide that we all wanted to go. Orignially dad wanted a boys weekend and I know I probably ruined that because I really wanted to go too. I've always wanted to see that stadium ever since I first watched the movie "Rudy". I know cheesy HUH? But after alot of convincing for several years dad relented on this boys weekend, probably because I told him that I would go anyway and I really think he believed that I would. In truth I probably would have found a group a people and went with them. Occassionally I can be resourceful. After not being able to secure all the tickets we thought we could some family members opted out of going. Maybe the better word is sacrificed not going, which I can say was very selfless on their part. But I do appreciate the opportunity to have the experience. It was also something for me to look forward to during volleyball. There is such an emotional let down when a season ends that going to Indiana was the ticket to help me push through some of those sad moments. However, in reality I just postponed the after season blues to December but that's another story. So the day finally came November 12, 2010. I went to my morning classes and then I jumped in the car and headed to Beaver. In Beaver I met the rest of the gang. Brandon, Payton and Tyce and of course mom and dad. We loaded up in Brandon's truck and headed to the Salt Lake City airport.

The airport, now that was an experience. Payton and Tyce have never flown, Brandon did go to Hawaii so he kind of knew what was going on and mom and dad, well lets just say it had been a while. Though in mom's defense she had read up on all the rules and she was pretty prepared. Everyone had carry on luggage but me...I like my hair products and I couldn't reduce them to 3 oz. bottles plus I hate the hassle of dragging my bags through the airport. I tried to prepare dad on what to wear to make security easier to get through but he has to be prepared with all his gadgets and such. Once he got ALL his pockets emptied...that took a while and unlaced his hiking boots we eventually got him through the airport. That was the most stressful part of the entire trip. After that it was smooth sailing. The plane ride was easy. I sat on the same row as Tyce and Brandon...after Tyce peed for the 50th time and finally relaxed once the plane took off we settled in with our ipods, dvd player and video games and it was an easy 4 hour flight. We landed and headed off to the car rental. I'm not sure what happened at the car rental counter because I was entertaining Payton and Tyce but mom, dad and Brandon were having a great time and that poor Budget guy probably wasn't the same afterwards. We ended up with a Ford Flex...I about died when I first saw it...the vehicle is really the ugliest thing I've ever seen. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I got in...this was a pretty nice ride. We did arrive safely at our hotel and it was late. Indiana is on Eastern time so though it was midnight there it was 10 o'clock for us and we were all starving. We headed off to a Denny's and had a pretty interesting experience with a "fried" waitress. She was nice but not all there for the graveyard shift. We got a whole lot of food we didn't order. Needless to say by the time we ate we were exhausted. We had a whole day ahead of us that we were free to do what we wanted.

(I know Jana, I've typed alot and we haven't even gotten to the pictures yet). Keep going there are pictures coming. The next day we got up and decided that we wanted to go to the Children's Museum. I thought it sounds pretty fun...and I was right. I had a great time. This is the largest museum geared to kids and since it was a Friday morning the place was not crowded at all...even better. We went to a dinosaur wing. We got to touch a real dinosaur bone and talk to a palenotologist that was working on digging out a chunk of bone from this rock. It was cool. They had a lot of touch screen interactive exhibits. The pictures are kind of dark.

 Me, Tyce and Payton it was hard to see but there is a big dinosaur behind us.

Diplodacus skelton

Giant Crocidle

Train we saw in the next exhibit.

This is more from the train...they basically built the museum around the train engine. It was pretty cool.

Tyce in his Indy care

We built this arch with the keystone. I had to take a picture of these brillant young men. They are growing up so fast.

Honestly how could I resist...the stuffed Beaver. I found this and Tyce was still looking for the frogs in the atrium. We could hardly pull him away. He loved that exhibit.

There was also a history exhibit and why I don't have pictures I don't know. I think I was so enthralled at what I was reading I forgot to take pictures. But the exhibit was about teenagers and kids leaving their mark in history and they has smaller exhibits on Anne Frank, Ruby Bridges and Ryan White. I wish I could have had my classes there. They really would have loved it. I doubt I'll get approval for a field trip.

After the museum it was time for us to go pick up Brett at the airport. He flew in separately than us because he was coming from Washington. Brett, Jana and the kids had moved to Kennewick two weeks prior to the big game. I will say I feel like I've spent alot of time waiting at airports from Brett to arrive...his mission, coming home from Iraq on leave, coming home from Iraq but this was the best wait for Brett to arrive I must say. There really wasn't any stress about it at all. Of course when Brett comes so do the jokes and laughs. He is good comic relief.



I'm not exactly sure how the "Menards" conversation got started I was busy navigating. All I can really say without getting in to too much trouble is that Brett was really concerned about finding his "Menards". Coming home from the game we found the "Menards" store. Dad was laughing so hard, while driving, that he couldn't see the road...thought we were going to wreck but he regained his composer. Honestly, I haven't heard dad laugh so hard in a long time and we had several moments like that on this trip...all of which had some connection to the Menards story. Also, Tyce picked up on the Menards conversation faster than Payton...a little scary. But it was SO HILARIOUS!!!

 It's Game Day Baby!!!!

 Touchdown Jesus! When I told everyone that I was going to this game they all told me that I needed to get a picture of Touchdown Jesus! I just said OK..not knowing really what I was going to be looking for. It didn't take long and there was quite a crowd lingering and taking pictures. This is a picture made of rock from 16 different countries from around the world. It is to signify peace in Christ. The fact that Jesus's arms look like they are signaling a touchdown and the picture is directly facing the stadium was not planned though I have to admit there could have been some divine inspiration for picture and it's location.

I can't remember the name of this building. Ask mom she'll remember. But we did go inside and there were bagpipe players playing in under the dome and there were people stand three stories up listening. It was amazing to listen to the music echo with such a great resonance. I think it may be called the Basilica.

This building behind the trees is the Cathedral of the Madeline. We did go in and it is beautiful. There were stain glass window depicting bible stories and there were candles everywhere. The molding was trimmed in gold. We got to watch the football team enter for mass before the game. That was pretty neat.

This was the scene coming out of the Basilica. I don't think Notre Dame campus has seen so much red. In fact of few of the locals made comments that they had never seen a crowd like this walking through the campus. It was a pretty neat experience to be apart of. I'm so glad that I went.

Here we are all dressed up and waiting for the game.

Now Brandon is taking the picture.

(Some of these pictures are out of order)

Well here we are after waiting 10 months to finally arrive we made it. We got into the stadium fairly quickly we didn't want to miss a thing. Dad, Brett and I sat up in the upper bowl and we could see Touchdown Jesus and the Basilica and Brandon, Payton, Tyce and Mom were sitting closer to the end zone and they said they couldn't see those buildings. Dad of course made friends with the usher. That where we learned alot of things about the stadium and the campus. He was a really nice man.

Closer picture of Touchdown Jesus and the Basilica

Brett and I...Yes we look so great but this was actually before the rain started. The rain didn't start until the game did and it rained through the entire game and quit when the game was done. Believe it or not we look pretty good here. We were drowned rats by the time we got done. But the game was still fun.

Dad and I just chilling. Only dad would wear a BYU/Utah hat in the middle of the Crimson club. Oh well I can't say too much. My winter coat is green and don't worry aunt Robin let me know it was Notre Dame colors. I had the coat wrapped around my legs the entire time anyway.

The marching band was amazing!!! It is the oldest marching band in the United States.

The score board at the end of the game. It was dark by then. The game itself didn't work out for Utah. In fact it was kind of a disaster but honestly ten years from now when I look back on this experience I won't even care what the score was. In fact I can't tell you want it was now. But I LOVED being there.

This picture I couldn't get to move up so here it is out of place.

I took this picture while we were waiting for the Utes to arrive at the stadium. We just happened to end up at this spot without planning or trying and we were glad we did. We got to watch the team get off the bus and we cheered them on into the stadium. That was pretty fun.

For me this was one of the most relaxing trips I have been on with the family. We simply enjoyed ourselves. I would do this again in a heartbeat...it was well worth the time and money. I'm so glad I was able to go. The next stadium I want to go to is Lambo stadium in Green Bay!!! I'd even go in the middle of December in the below freezing weather! That is my next goal!!!