I'd Like to Try this Some Day!

So while driving to Jordanelle last Saturday we passed through Park City. And there were hot air balloons all over the place. I took these pictures from the passenger seat of Loren's car on a very bumpy road. (I-80 is under a little bit of construction.) Not bad, eh?

I would love to go for a ride in a hot air baloon sometime!

Day at the Lake!

I have finally found some time to put pictures up from our day at the lake last Saturday. Clint and I went with a few friends up to Jordanelle Reservoir for some fun in the water. We rode wave runners and went knee boarding until we were both burnt to a crisp...despite the continual application of spf 50. What fun!

Briana and I both did quite well with the knee boarding (much better than most of the boys) but we have no proof of our accomplishment because neither of us wanted to risk taking our cameras out on the water for fear that some sort of mishap would take place.

Here are some pictures from the day:




Everyone gathering at Dre's in the wee morning hours!




Jordanelle Reservoir



Jon and Briana having lunch



Clint, Emily, and Briana getting ready to get out on the water!



Dre and Raquel...what a cute couple! Dre...is it chilly outside?



Jon, Clint, and Loren ready to knee board!



Clint and Emily...it's the end of the summer and we are still so pastey white!



Emily and Briana taking a break from the water!



Packing up after a long day!

I have spent the past week in North Carolina, enjoying all that the Tar Heel state has to offer. So far, I have not been overly impressed. While on a property in Fayetteville (A military town from the 1970s with the nickname FayetteNam because of the existence of strip clubs and other adult establishments made popular in Vietnam in the 60s) I experienced a fun little storm called a Tornado.

It was a minor tornado but still enough to scare the crud out of me. It was sunny skies until less than 2 minutes before the storm started. Suddenly the rain started pouring down and pinecones were flung against the window like rocks. Here are some pictures on the property after the storm.

This pool is right by my room. 4 different trees were knocked over the fence into the pool. Maintenance guys with Chainsaws spent a few hours clearing the pool. Luckily nobody was in the pool. I know it was rainy so people should be smart enough to stay out of the water, but this is North Carolina....

This is Catina (the manager of the property I was visiting) standing by a large tree that was knocked over by the storm. The hole in the ground was 3 or 4 feet deep where the tree was uprooted.

This poor car (Brand new BMW) met a tree upclose when it fell on it. Luckily it did not appear serious body damage was done, but it is never fun when a new, expensive car decides to cuddle with a fallen tree

I should have known my week would be crappy when, on my flight over, I sat next to a lady with 2 children under the age of 2. Since being in Nursery, I have grown much more tolerant of kids but 4 1/2 hours is along time to be by messy, loud, smelly kids. The lady was extremely nice but overly trusting.

At one point, she left her 8 month old in the seat next to me while she went to the bathroom to change the other kid's diaper. As she left, she said "He is buckled in if you would just watch him for me." This wasn't a question, merely a very trusting command.

I figured babysitting was preferable to a poopy diaper smell. I played with the kid for a bit until she came back and then went back to my book. During the course of the flight, I felt I was more than friendly and patient.

As we got off the plane, the crew brought a double stroller for the lady and her kids. I politely passed behind her to head to the rental car area. Another lady stopped me, with our conversation listed below:

Nosy Lady: You should help her.

Me: Haha, thats ok. (Thinking she is making a joke)

Nosy Lady: Really, you should help her.

Me: ??

Nosy Lady: She needs your help (please note, she had a very angry look on her face)

Me: They aren't my kids (with an equally angry look on my face) !!!!

Nosy Lady: Oh, I thought they were yours. Honey, they arent his (to husband).

Husband: Oh, that makes sense.

What the heck? Here are the problems I can list

1)It is none of their business!

2) They obviously had talked about it during the flight!

3) I had been very nice and patient and still was painted as a jerk!

4) The lady that sat by me was HUGE! Did we really look like a good match?

Welcome to North Carolina!

My Nieces!

Last month my sister Misty's little girls came to visit. It was very bittersweet to see them. On one hand, they look so much like her and they tell me stories about her that just melt my heart. On the other hand, it makes me sad to know that they will likely forget a lot about her as they grow up. I was only 4 when my dad passed away and I have three or four distinct memories of him but other than that, I don't know him. It is hard to know that these sweet little girls will not know their mom the way I knew her.

Clint and I brought the girls to our house one night to give my mom a much needed rest from babysitting. They played with our dogs and we roasted s'mores over the grill outside and watched a Disney movie. These girls don't eat a lot...so I bribed them with Pez candy. I'm all about the bribes! I've never seen Colette wolf down a hot dog so fast! Clint and I loaded them up with sugar before sending them back to mom's house. My dad was "oh so pleased!" to have three little girls bouncing off the walls when they got back. What could I do??? I'm Aunt Emily! And Clint is Uncle T! We live to spoil them.

So I have to mention a few of the funny things they said while they were out here visiting:

Camille, the 4 year old, was watching Snow White at my mom's house and she got to the part where the dwarfs have"buried" Snow White in that little glass enclosure. And Camille sat there in awe and said, "I wish my mom was buried like that."

Colette, the 5 year old, hugged me when we picked them up at the airport. And she looked at me and said, "You have some dark hair...just like my mommy!" It made me happy to know that she still remembers those little details of her mom. And I told her, "I do have the same color hair as your mommy. And you have her eyes! And Colette responded very seriously, "They're blue...like the sky." ADORABLE!

At dinner one night Colette said (much to the embarassment of my brother-in-law) "Sometimes when my dad is sad and crying...because he misses Mommy...I hug him just like this." And she demonstrated by wrapping her little arms around her dad so tight. And she said, "and I tell him, Dad, it's going to be ok." I'm amazed at the perspective this little girl has!

The night before they flew home Clint and I took the girls to the park to play. I'm attaching a few videos from our rendezvous. At one park there was a little tire swing. The three girls swung around on that for awhile but two of them got bored with it and jumped off to find something else to play on. But Camille stayed on the swing and made me continue to push her. And as she swung she said to me, "Aunt Emily, my mom's spirit is here at this playground. Most people can't see spirits but I can. My mom is on this tire swing next to me. And she is helping me push it." Now, I don't know if she was really there. But I'd like to think she was. It was all I could do to hold back tears and say to my little Camilley, "I bet she's having fun on that tire swing with you!" We took them to get ice cream after the park. All I could hear was "I want chocolate, I want sprinkles, I want a big ice cream..." But they finally all settled on a kiddie cone at Arctic Circle. Which, much to my surprise, were FREE. Didn't cost me even 5 cents! Wahoo! Here are few pictures:



Colette was dying for vanilla with sprinkles but she settled for just vanilla.



Camille went fancy-schmancy with a twist cone...



And Heidi Ski had chocolate. The best part was when she got her ice cream on the edge of the table at Arctic Circle and thought it would be a good idea to lick it off. EW!



So pardon my screechy voice on these videos. I was recording the videos on my cell phone. I don't normally talk this loud.



Right after this video ended all three of the girls started chanting, "Uncle T's a goofball, goofball, goofball. It was so dang cute!