I Can Picture it in My Mind

If you’ve been reading this blog from the time I started writing it, you have probably noticed a theme with me and weather, specifically summer.  I’ve written about my love of summer here, my wish for summer to begin here and my search for it in the dead of winter here.  So, I obviously have a thing for this season.

Yes, summer is hot in Utah (especially this summer with the hottest July on record), but it’s not crazy hot.  I mean it’s not Phoenix hot or deep south hot.  It’s just hot. And personally I think that heat kicks cold’s ass any day.  Hot summer days mean perfect summer nights spent lingering on the deck long after dinner is finished. They mean outdoor concerts and family camping trips.  Summer days mean outdoor dining at your favorite restaurant enjoying your favorite glass of wine or a margarita under the umbrella.

I find myself feeling nostalgic about a season that isn’t officially over yet because I can see the end creeping in.  Kids are going back to school (by the way, why in the hell do kids go back to school in the middle of August?), summer vacations are winding down and the days are getting shorter.  Summer always goes by too quickly in my opinion.  And although I love Utah’s fall season, I hate knowing that winter is soon to follow.

My summer has been busy with starting a new job in May, which is why I think I find myself daydreaming about a summer that really gets the shit lived out of it.  I find myself sitting in my office picturing our family spending the days at our cottage on the beach.  No, said cottage does not exist (yet), but I can picture it in my mind. Days are spent reading on our beach chairs and playing with the dog before we enjoy a beautiful summer dinner outside and finish it off by watching the sun go down.  I can feel the sand in my toes and the perfectly humid breeze hitting my skin.  Ahhhh isn’t that nice?  I mean doesn’t that just feel amazing?

You watch; one day that’s going to be my reality.  A reality in which the hardest task of the day is going to be finding the most perfect seashell I can.  Now that’s living.

Family Camping 90’s Style

Have I mentioned how much I love my family?  I mean yes, we’re dysfunctional as shit, but we are also insanely awesome.  It’s like we’re hilarious and amazing on our own and then you put us all together and it’s like what just happened?  And I start wondering if maybe, just maybe, we are some of the funniest people that ever lived. It’s possible.

Anyway, now that we’ve established just how incredible we all are, let’s talk about our most recent outing.  It was a quick trip to the HOA (Hendrickson Outdoor Adventure, named after my sister and her husband that own the property – the Hendricksons) but we still managed to jam it with lots of good memories…. 90’s style!

My bro, Spencer, came up with the 90’s idea.  Acting as if we didn’t own cell phones and only listening to music that was 90’s or pre-90’s sounded like the perfect way to spend the weekend.  Sometimes you just need to unplug.  Plus, my mom was kicking it super old school hiking around with her Sony Walkman.  That’s right, Walkman, as in she was listening to a tape!  Pink Floyd to be specific.  How cool is that?!  Oh, also, the Walkman was being carried around in some sort of fanny pack. Bam!

In addition to the 90’s theme, there was also a redneck theme going on as well. That means ATV rides, shooting guns and blowing shit up.  To be clear, people were shooting guns at things to blow them up.  It was loud and Captain Redneck (my brother-in-law Heath) was beaming from ear to ear.  Spence even got into the spirit of things with a full-on redneck accent.  And he shot a gun!

Now ATV riding is not necessarily a redneck thing, but it can be, so I say it is.  And you know what?  The group ATV rides are so fun.  Everyone was riding with someone else except my mom who drove her own because 1) she’s too nervous to let someone else drive and 2) it gives her the ability to tell us over and over again that she doesn’t want us waiting for her and that she likes to go slow.  We waited anyway.  After a section that was a little rocky we had all been hanging out for a few minutes trying to dry our butt sweat when she pulled up and yelled, “Fuck this! Could you have picked a worse road, Heath?”  Honestly, he totally could have picked a worse road but I for one am very happy that she thought it sucked so much.  If she hadn’t, we wouldn’t have had something to laugh our assess off at that particular moment.

At some point on the way back she took a wrong turn and we were ready for the comments about how we left her when she returned but nope.  She drove in cackling like a witch instead.  She is full of surprises!

I’m hoping for round two in September.  In the meantime, here are some pics to hold you over.  Unfortunately I have no pics of the man that made it all possible. I’m sure you’re disappointed, Heath.

My nephew, Dylan "crashing" on the ATV.  Don't worry, I went along with it.

My nephew, Dylan “crashing” on the ATV. Don’t worry, I went along with it.

Mom of the Year and the one and only Stevie.

Mom of the Year and the one and only Stevie.

My favorite shot.  Love you brother!

My favorite shot. Love you brother!

Spence, Mom and me.  Notice the fannypack.

Spence, Mom and me. Notice the fannypack.

My stepdaughter Emily and her boyfriend Taylor.

My stepdaughter Emily and her boyfriend Taylor.

Ummm can you say bad ass?

Ummm can you say bad ass?

Ladies Night Out

My cousin Heather got married last night.  And you know what the ladies do before someone gets married, right?  Right, they have a bachelorette shin dig of sorts. Which is exactly what we did last Saturday night.  It was a small group, but all you need is a couple of crazies to make a night out a complete blast.  And we definitely had a couple crazies in the group.  I mean I’m including myself, of course.

We started the night at Gracie’s in downtown Salt Lake to grab a couple of drinks and some food before things really got nutty.  Some people may have had some pre-dinner cocktails so things were amped up right out of the gate.  Not that anyone needed to worry about having too much to drink when we were being chauffeured around in this bad boy.  Yes, those are giant horns you see on the front.  The “limo” is called The Boss Hog and comes complete with a pink-shirted driver who I will disclose frightening details about later.  For now, just take in the glory of this ride.

boss hog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the ladies Jess and I had never met before made it clear immediately that she would be providing plenty of entertainment for the night.  When someone you’ve known for five minutes starts telling people she’s “fucking Irish and will kill you,” it’s only bound to provide good material for the rest of the evening.  And she didn’t let us down at all.

After Gracie’s we jumped in the Boss Hog and headed to Bar X for the most delicious drink on the planet; the Moscow Mule.  (Note: This is not an exaggeration.  If you have never had one of these before, go get one immediately)!  Anyway, drinking heaven was not the only thing that happened at the bar.  No sir.  There were other things, like maybe I had my abs molested by the Irish woman.  She may have put her arm around my waist and then things got awkward from there.  Let’s just say she may have had her hands all over my abs at one point while she said things like, “What the fuck?  Have you guys felt her abs?” In my uncomfortable state, I could only laugh, which provoked her more, because well, laughing causes one to flex their abs.  Which then caused Irish to say things like, “Oh my god, she’s laughing.  Keep laughing.”

From that point on I was referred to as “Abo” and was demanded to “nutritionalize” and help Irish get abs just like mine.  In case you’re not familiar with the word nutritionalize (maybe because it’s not a word), I believe it means to provide nutrition advice for one wanting to acquire nice abs.

After the molestation we sat down to enjoy our drinks while Irish tried to burn a string bracelet off her wrist in the candle flame on the table.  The two nerds in the group (that’d be me and my sister) shrieked in unison, “Oh no, don’t do that!” I know, we’re lame.  And Irish told us we’re lame when she looked up and said, “Is this the most dangerous thing you two have done?  Oh, you two are so cute.  Wait ’til I tie you up.”  Yep, you read that right.

Somehow we made it out of the Bar X without being set on fire or tied up and climbed back into the Boss Hog for stop number three.  The driver of the Boss Hog is Irish’s biological dad and seemed innocent enough until he revealed his true self to Jess and I at a stop on the way to the club.  Get a load of this… The old dude gets out of the rig, walks over to us and says, “This reminds me of when I was younger.” Which sounds totally innocent, right?  Wrong.  Wrong because the next sentence out of his mouth was, “When we used to kill people.”  What the fuck?  I mean we were like surely he has to be kidding, so we started laughing awkwardly as he got all dead serious, looked at us and said, “I’m serious as a judge.”  Not cool.

The rest of the evening was filled with a couple of boob grabs (Irish doing the grabbing, of course), great dancing and lots of laughs.  I know that a lot of what I just described sounds weird and scary, and yet I think we’re all going out again next month.  Hey, it might mean I’ll actually have something to blog about.

A Hiking He Will Go

A friend of mine runs a dog hiking business.  At one point in time she also did dog sitting and maybe still does, but the hiking is the really cool part.  I mean isn’t that cool?  She hikes packs of dogs (I’m talking about 8 dogs every day!) Monday through Friday on different trails all over the valley.  I saw some pictures she’d posted on Facebook one day and asked her if she ever hiked smaller dogs. Her reply was that she hikes small dogs all the time and they love it.  Of course they love it; they get to explore and hike off leash with a bunch of their buddies!

So anyway, we started chatting about Jack and she said she would love to take him on a hike and see how he does.  And you know how he did?  He did freaking awesome!  Rob told me to try not to “shoot anxiety out my forehead” when she was on her way over.  Which I didn’t really think was very nice, but it’s true and funny, so I said I’d do my best.  I pretty much instantly felt calm when she came in though. She’s been doing this for years and has worked with a few dogs with similar issues, so I trust her 100%.

They saw a few other hikers on the trail and Aimee simply told them that Jack was still learning and to not reach down (sudden movements towards him or reaching down when he hasn’t warmed up to you have been triggers for him in the past). The results?  “He was a rockstar.”  Those were her words, hence the quotation marks.

Jack is now hiking three days a week and loving it.  He is beyond exhausted when he gets home, but I honestly see a mellowing in him and feel really hopeful that he’ll continue to progress.  He’s already come so far, and this is just one more step in the right direction.  One day when I feel he’s ready, we may just take on another dog so he can have a buddy.  We may, I reiterate.  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Trucking along!

Trucking along!

 

Taking a little break in the shade.  I know he's panting, but doesn't that look like a giant grin?!

Taking a little break in the shade. I know he’s panting, but doesn’t that look like a giant grin?!

Cooling off in the water.

Cooling off in the water.

A Long Weekend in the Woods

Sometimes you just need a long weekend away getting your camp on.  Or, if you’re my husband, you think you need to go camping every weekend.  He’s weird though, so we’re not taking his opinion into account.  Anyway, we camped over Memorial weekend, like we always do and it was a great little escape.

Eating delicious food (and way too much of it), going for long hikes, riding bikes around the campground and playing games together are all the things I love about camping.  Plus, you have a great excuse for not taking a shower.  Not that I like to go for long periods of time without a shower, but sometimes a shower just gets in the way of all the things going on in a day, so.  Yeah.

Of course there are downsides to camping.  For one, there’s the whole bathroom situation.  We have a small tent trailer, that has a bathroom in it, but when there are three of us staying in it, it’s a better idea to just use the campground bathrooms. You know, the ones with doors.  Doors that lock, by the way, Mr. Taking a Poop Without Locking the Door!  Yeah, there’s a story here.

On the last day I walked over to the bathroom and opened the door to a man sitting on the toilet.  Yep.  It scared the shit out of me.  Not literally, but I jumped about 10 feet in the air as he sat there acting as casual as can be.  He honestly waved this slow, casual wave and then said (also very slowly, I might add), “Yeah, doesn’t lock.” Which, by the way, is entirely untrue.  I had been locking the thing for three days! And also, if it really doesn’t lock, how about putting a sign on the door or something before sitting down to take a crap?  You ever think of that dude?!  No, because he obviously could care less, as noted by the casual wave.

Other than the drop in, the camping weekend was a success and fun was had by all. I can prove it with these pictures.

Expensive Hobbies

I’m constantly talking about how my husband has a crazy amount of hobbies, most of which are crazy expensive.  Between photography and biking, the dude is always looking at the next piece of equipment to throw a shit ton of cash at.  It would be super cool if he could change his hobbies to my hobbies so that we could spend that money on the stuff I like.  What?  They’re good hobbies, people!

One of my hobbies is cooking, so that’s nothing that needs saving.  I mean at one point I suppose it did; you know when we did the whole kitchen remodel thing. That is (thank God!) behind us now though, so I can continue cooking yummy food and focus on my other major hobby… home decorating!  You see, I adore my house, but my taste has changed a lot since we bought the place.  I used to be all about browns and earth tones and now I’m like, “white, white and more white!”  Basically, I love bright, coastal looks.  The kitchen is there, but the rest of the house… not so much.

I’m slowly trying to add pieces and make minor changes, but I’m itching to do something more major.  Like paint!  Ok, maybe that’s not really major. Some of you probably enjoy painting.  I enjoy when the painting that someone else has done is complete and I can stand back and say, “Wow, you did a great job!”  Anyone want to work out a trade?  I can clean like a son of a bitch and would totally come deep clean your house while you paint my bathrooms and basement! Ok, you can just do the bathrooms to start.  Who’s in?

You know what’s not helping this obsession? All the home remodeling shows on HGTV.  In the course of 30 minutes the Property Brothers are like, “Here was your really shitty place 4 weeks ago.  And here is your brand spankin’ new place now!” These shows are killing me!

I’ll keep chipping away slowly and until I’m ready to take on painting I’ll just keep cleaning.  Today I tackled the shed and pretty much have completely dialed in the deck!  Is it as exciting as buying home decor pieces?  Not really, but it’ll do for now.

Why Isn’t Someone Taping This?!

So I’m a shitty blogger lately.  There, I said it.  I just haven’t been inspired to write, I suppose.  Maybe my life’s too boring?  Or maybe I just haven’t been keeping track of all the weird things that I observe in any given day.  Whatever the reason, I need to get my shit together. My brother got me this great book on writing for my birthday in March and the biggest tip to becoming a better writer is simply DO IT!  So, I’m doing it.

The last thing I wrote about was my (yet to be announced) brilliant idea of how we’re going to survive in this god forsaken world.  I still have no concrete plan, but don’t give up on me.  Some things are in the works.  If I can ever get my husband, whom I rarely see anymore, to stop working, stuff is going to happen.  And until that stuff happens, I’ll enjoy the other stuff that goes on around me.

Like yesterday, I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my fam for Mother’s Day. This is pretty much the only day of the year that we can talk my older sister into doing a shot. And seeing her do a shot is great entertainment.  Usually because part of it ends up coming out of her mouth as a slow drool.  Equally as entertaining is her husband that is, for some odd reason, obsessed with talking about marijuana. Which is strange considering he’s only smoked it once and had a terrible reaction that left him feeling like he was walking on the moon (his words, not mine).  Despite being “messed up” from this one pot smoking experience, he talks about it constantly.  As in, “does this dessert have marijuana in it?”  By the way, the dessert was not brownies.

Nearly every single time my family gets together I wonder why in the hell there aren’t cameras rolling.  We would make AMAZING reality television.  I’m telling you; it’s good material almost all the time.  The character lineup is unreal.  We have rednecks, people that talk to themselves, children that are beyond difficult, martyrs, negative nellies and so so much more.

I think soon I’ll have to post some video of just how hilarious we are.  So don’t give up on my blog just yet.  There are epic posts to come.

Dreaming

Today is May 1.  Two days ago it was close to 80 degrees and sunny.  Today, it’s SNOWING!  Which, by the way, none of the local meteorologists knew anything about.  In fact I just heard one of them say, “Well, there may be a few flurries going on right now.”  Ummm it’s a full-on snowstorm at my house!  Weather has been a heated topic on this blog.  As seen here.  And listen, I know that complaining doesn’t do much, but I cannot not say something about it.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about maybe not staying in Utah forever.  So, maybe it’s time I stopped complaining about shitty weather and moved some place where I won’t have to.  Easier said than done, right?  I mean if I keep doing the whole freelance thing, I can technically live anywhere that provides me with a decent airport nearby.  Rob’s job is a different story. I can dream though.  Hell, maybe I can do more than dream.  In fact, Rob, my brother and I have kind of a brilliant plan to simplify our lives and live more sustainably.  I’m not going to tell you, because we’re still working out the details.  Trust me that it’s brilliant though.

The thing is that I want to be a bit of a dreamer.  I don’t mean that I want to be unrealistic or irresponsible.  I just mean that I want to do more than just talk about an idea.  I want to do everything within my power to make it happen.  And if it doesn’t, at least I tried.  I’m that person that sees a documentary about someone making a dramatic change; someone living on their own terms, and I’m inspired beyond words but all I do is talk about it.  I’ll tell everyone I know how great the film was and say things like, “Why don’t we do this?”  And then I do nothing.

I’m feeling the need to try.  And I know you have no idea what it is I’m even talking about, but send your positive energy my way.  I promise to do the same in return.

Mexico!

Coming home from vacation is hard.  Especially when you’re coming home to Utah weather.  This morning I realized that it snows during every season except summer here.  Extremely lame.  I suppose it made us appreciate the 85 degree weather in Mexico even more though, right? Right.

The trip started out with just enough drama when a fellow passenger was escorted off the plane in Cancun.  After touching down, it was announced that no one would be exiting the plane just yet except for one passenger.  After paging his name there was this deafening silence as we all looked up and down the aisle waiting to see who this person was.  Holy walk of shame.  Not that we even knew why the hell he was being escorted off by himself, but we knew it wasn’t good.  As if the suspense wasn’t already killing us, the flight attendant continued to announce that this was “the most unusual thing I have ever seen.”  She probably said at least five times, “Sorry folks, please remain seated.  This is just very strange.  I honestly have never seen anything like this.”  I seriously almost died from not knowing.  Once we were finally off the plane we spotted the mysterious passenger in a room full of security dudes. And security dudes and police officers in Mexico are not the same as the ones in the United States.  Meaning, they carry machine guns!

We finally reached our resort after what felt like one of the longest car rides ever and were greeted in our rooms with some wonderful towel creations.  I wrote before about my dislike for the swan towel, but the Riu Palace Mexico put a new twist on it, and I think I like it.  Check out these bad boys.  I mean now they have sticker eyes and streamers!  Maria, our housekeeper, was a towel creation champion.

It's a double!

It’s a double!

I don't know what this one is supposed to be, but I like it.

I don’t know what this one is supposed to be, but I like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides enjoying the random animals made out of washcloths, we spent our time lounging at the pool, walking along the beach and eating way too much food.  All-inclusive is the way to go, but it’s also dangerous.  Each meal consists of like five different courses.  Of course, drinks are also unlimited, so add those calories on, and well, you’re screwed.  I mean unless you’re looking to gain a few pounds, in which case, you’re in luck.

Some other highlights from the trip include, but are not limited to:

-Being asked if we “want to get high” repeatedly on the 5th Avenue shopping street.  We politely declined.

-Paying $30USD for a bottle of sunblock.  Somehow I calculated it as $3 and was like, “Wow, what a great deal!”  Only later was I like, “Hey, wait a second.  They are completely robbing people!”

-Asking for a decaf at the end of dinner and having the server bring us an enormous jar of decaf coffee and a cup full of hot water.  Self-serve style!

Here are a few pics to sum up the beauty of Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.  Crossing my fingers we’re back on the Riviera Maya soon.

playa1

The fam

The fam

playa1

Birthdays are Cool

So, I mentioned in my last blog that I had a birthday coming up.  It was yesterday. Don’t feel bad if you forgot to send me some birthday love.  I felt like a rockstar most of the day.  If I ever consider getting rid of my Facebook account, I’ll remind myself of how good I feel about the site when my big day rolls around.  The love was pouring in all day!

My birthday is always extra cool because I share the day with my older sister.  Yes, we have the same birthday but we’re three years apart.  When we were kids this wasn’t necessarily the coolest thing to share a birthday, but now?  Now, it’s the shit. It helps that she’s one of my favorite people.  And, it’s just fun.  The last couple of years we’ve gone for lunch and then hit the spa.  I love the spa.  Honestly, if I had loads of extra cash, I’m pretty sure I’d spend it being pampered.

Yesterday we both opted for a spa treatment we’d never tried (we’re getting adventurous now that we’re in our mid and late 30’s).  It’s called a Native American Body Balancer.  I thought for sure we’d leave covered in body paint and feathers, but sadly, we did not.  Calm down, it’s a joke.  The treatment is a skin exfoliation/detox that involves a scrub, steam, shower and body butter application.  The scrub?  A little scratchy, but it was fine and the local herb mixture smelled amazing.  The steam?  Holy hot!  Thank God the lady told me how to turn it off, because there is no way in hell I would have lasted in that room for 20 minutes.  I’m pretty sure I turned it off after like seven minutes.  I think I’m still sweating.  My skin is happy today though, and I do feel slightly detoxed, which may or may not be a placebo thing.

I ended the day with a Gmail chat interview (more on that when I know where it’s all going) and a wonderful dinner with my little family.  Rob, Em and I have such a great time together, and I am reminded of that so often.  I feel like a very lucky woman to have such an incredible husband and stepdaughter.  Jack and Kitty never actually wished me a ‘Happy Birthday,’ but I could feel their love.  Damn, life is good.