1 Down, Only 179 More Days To Go...

First Day of School!

Pencils and Pens: Check

Trapper Keeper: Check

'First day of school outfit' meticulously contemplated weeks in advance: Check

Sack lunch: Check

Recurring nightmares about first day of school: Check

One Shouldn't Be Conflicted With Confusing the Time with the Temperature!

Only in Arizona!

Is it 1:21 pm or 121°F?

Six Degrees Of Jon And Becky

In Arizona my parents wear many hats; mom, Rebecca, Carly's mom and dad, dad, Jonathan, Bishop, etc. But in Utah, 'Jon and Becky' hold a sort-of celebrity status. We can't go ANYWHERE without running into someone from their past, present, or possibly even future! Sometimes we even find someone along the way! It's a little crazy. Here's a list of places where we ran into people;

-At the gas station/Wendy's in Kanab on the way up

-Rock creek Pizza, upon arrival
-Oquirrh Mountain temple open house, next day
-Draper Temple, following day
-Snowbird Resort
-Visiting Old Neighborhood Friends
-Costco (this is a given)

The craziest occurrence happened the day we went to Snowbird. We met a guy who worked up there. His name is Zack Gulini. He was involved in a tragic skateboarding accident about 5 years ago, while attending Brighton High, and has made a remarkable recovery.

Later that evening my parents were visiting some old friends and there was a knock at the door. It was their daughters' boyfriends' mom (you follow?). Coincidentally, it also happened to be one of my mom's best friends from junior high. After much hugging and recollecting she had mentioned her kids attended Brighton. My mom proceeded to ask "do you know Zack?" She replied with an inquisitive "How do you know Zack?" She was his music teacher at one point. Very Twilight Zone meets It's a small world mixed with a little bit of fate and a dash of "don't be so surprised you're Mormon, remember?". The next day we did lunch with her and her girls. It's sometimes difficult living in the shadows of such super stars like my parents, but I'm thinking about joining a support group. I'm just grateful they haven't abandon us for more popular well-known children like the Simpsons or the Osmonds.

Don't Mock My Pro Con List

Just got back from another family-fun-filled trip to Utah. I love to visit; it's nostalgia meets family reunion with a little bit of Arizona stinks, but I love it there and would never what to live here again, but Utah’s a huge part of my childhood and it’s not 120°F like home is right now all wrapped into one.

I’ve concocted a Utah Pro-Con list to help me sort out my feelings. Feel free to add one or two of your own if you’d like!

Pros

• Dunford Donuts
• Glaus Bakery
• 5 Guys burgers
• Rich’s Asiago cheese Bagels
• Those bread twist things at the Pizza Factory
• Real Grass
• Fireworks are legal
• Tai Pan Trading
• The fact that it gets below 80°F at night
• Snelgroves Burnt Almond Fudge Ice cream (I know it’s out of commission, but still, I heart it)
• A Billion Temples so close in proximity
• Wheeler Farm
• Alta Canyon Pool
• Sno-Shack at the Smith's parking lot on Highland Drive
• Family, Family, Family!
• University of Utah
• Scenic Mountains
• Legitimate summers where you can play kick-the-can with the neighborhood kids until 10pm
• You can walk on the pavement without fear of imminent charring of feet

Cons

• BYU
• Freeway construction, which leads to unnecessary traffic! Everywhere!
• BYU
• Hills! Everywhere! My ears never stop popping and I could never do a standard transmission there.
• Crazy numbers for street names and no one ever says the full number (they say "90th South", but they actually mean 9000 south...I think, or maybe they mean 90000 south...I never know!)
• BYU
• Mormons! Everywhere! (J/K)
• BYU
• An over abundance of traffic lights
• BYU
• Real Winters!
• No Oregano's
• BYU
• It’s still Utah
• My house lives in Arizona, along with my husband

The Theme Park Diet

Let’s face it. We do cheap, even at Disneyland and Six Flags. So, naturally, we loaded up a cooler with drinks, sandwiches and goodies for our whole trip. We planned on dining a la car, and not at the park so as to save on some cash. Sidebar: I would not advise this method if traveling with children, pregnant women or diabetics. We ate before entering the park and decided when we were hungry again we’d just head back to the car, eat, rest, and then head back to the park. We started the day with our tummies filled and our feet spry, and by the end of our two day theme park expedition our every appendage, limb, and extremity had been battered and abused. Awesome!

We did stick to our ‘dining a la car’ arrangement with the exception of a much anticipated churro purchase! And, with the advent of fast passes at Disneyland (thank you Walt) we did an awful lot of walking back and forth, more so than in times past. We had to hike to the ride to acquire the fast pass, then walk to another ride and eventually make our way back to said ride when our allotted fast pass time slot approached. Not to mention the scampering children, behemoth-sized strollers and swarms of crowds we had to evade getting to our destination. Although we saved oodles of time waiting in lines, we presumably exhausted the same amount of foot time traveling back and forth from ride to ride. Subsequently, when we wanted to eat we had to make the trek back to the car. Ultimately, even though we were on vacation this new theme park-exercise-regime would definitely rival our P90X that was anxiously awaiting our arrival at home. I wonder if we could market this aerobic brainchild?

(Unfortunately, any and all calories burned by avoiding fatty park foods and walking incessantly for two days was probably completely annulled by the constant inhalation of snacks, goodies and munchies consumed on the 12 hour drive home. The Yin to my Yang!)

What Not to Wear

While attending both Disneyland and Six Flags and spending a great deal of time in lines gazing at the crowds I noticed an overabundance of unfortunate and somewhat alarming theme park apparel. My first inclination when selecting an outfit for a theme park is comfort. I also take into account the weather and function. Naturally, I always match, but I realize I’m not preparing for a night at the Emmy’s. It’s a theme park. In the summer. I need something light and well-ventilated; preferably with pockets, comfortable shoes and a hair tie. I leave my beloved flip-flops at home and slap on a pair of sneakers.

I'm no fashion mogul, but here is my list of unsuitable attire for any theme park, all of which I observed.

• Thigh-high stiletto boots (save these for Van Buren)
• Beanies and sweatshirts (acceptable for the cooler months, but unnecessary when it’s 90°F)
• Ugg boots tucked into skin-tight skinny jeans (let your legs breathe)
• Juicy couture terrycloth suits with something uncouth plastered across the rump (these always bug me whenever, wherever)
• An excess of dangling jewelry (Mickey is not dazzled)
• Long jean skirts with tennis-shoes (I get that you may feel skirts are less constricting than pants, but the jean material completely negates any comfort you may have received from a skirt)
• Scarves, suspenders and combat boot combo (these need no explanation)
• Layered tank-tops that don’t even cover up your bra straps (tank-tops may be more refreshing than a t-shirt, but not when you layer 5 of them)
• Strapless tube-top dresses (gravity is unforgiving on roller coasters)
• Handheld clutches (again, this is not a night out on the town, try a small back-pack or shoulder bag)
• Flip-flops (some of you may disagree with me on this one, but in the interest of your feet, this choice of footwear provides no protection from the harsh elements and there is a high probability of losing them on rides, also no support for your arches)

We Need a STAY-cation

We just returned from an alleged vacation to California. I say alleged because by definition this is what a vacation is:

Vacation: A period of time devoted to pleasure, rest, or relaxation/Leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure.

We were in violation of every part of that description. Here’s a synopsis:

Leave for Disneyland at 2am on Tuesday, drive 6 hrs, play at Disneyland, play at California Adventure, play more at Disneyland, head back to car to eat lunch/dinner, walk back to park, play some more, walk back to car, notice huge slice in front left tire, contact tire place, drive to hotel, sleep for 6 hours, spend morning getting tire fixed, drive 1.5 hrs to Valencia, play at Six Flags, convince James to ride on Goliath, play evil mind tricks on him while on roller coaster, wait 1.5 hrs in line for X2, chew out girls for trying to cut in line, point and laugh as they make their way back in line, watch James try and strap himself into seat as tight as he can, ride X2 and realize it is scary wicked fun, want to do it again, leave six flags, drive 6 hours to Sacramento area, arrive at 12:30am, pass out for 7 hours on Lisa and Rocky’s couch, play with nieces and nephews next morning, send James and boys off to golf in Napa Valley for 6 hours, spend 2 hours in Sam’s Club and 3 in Target with sis-in-laws, mom-in-law and their offspring, shop for 3 hours (not enough time), score really cute striped pencil skirt for 5 bucks, sleep for 4 hours, following morning send James and boys off to golf at 4:30 am, can’t really fall back to sleep due to solar lights glaring me in the face, spend morning with nieces and nephews using me as a jungle-jim, Visit Jelly Belly Factory, drive to Sacramento to visit G’ma Martin and party, eat, have awkward conversation with family I have never met/may never see again, say “hi” to G’ma, realize she’s got to go to the hospital, cut party short, head back to Vacaville, hit up shops again, watch Transformers, whisper to James about how Megan Fox forgot her bra and decipticons aren’t supposed to look like people-that’s Terminator and someone should tell Michael Bay that that movie’s been done at least 4 times already, get to sleep at 1:30am, wake up at 5 am to pack up car again, spend 30 minutes trying to divert bird that flew in the house back outside, drive an hour to San Francisco, watch seals at pier 39, head to Alcatraz, watch park ranger yell at tourists who are getting ahead of the group, spend time at Fisherman’s Wharf, pay way too much for a pretzel, eat clam chowder in bread bowl, hit up Ghirardelli square, get raked over the coals by San Fran prices, spend next 3 hours in China Town where stuff seems more authentic b/c it was actually made in China, finally head home around 7:30pm, need to make it back to AZ by 12:30 next day to listen to Joshua speak in church, bust out Rockstar, have headache and down 2 Excedrins, now have huge stomachache from rockstar-excederin concoction, keel over in pain, still have headache, pull over and sleep in car for 3 hours, back on the road at 4am, finally home at 11 am, shower and try and rinse off liberal California grime, make it to church at 12:29 pm. Pretty sure that was one long sentence. Pretty sure we got a total of 30 hours of sleep over 6 days. Pretty sure we spent more than that just driving. You do the math! Now it's time for a stay-cation.

p.s. A Super-Ginormous thanks to Lisa and Rocky for letting us crash on their couch! Now it’s your turn to come and visit.

Coming soon to a blog near you:
"The Theme Park Diet" and "What Not to Wear"