Memorial Weekend

This Memorial Weekend, my family was lucky enough to schedule our cabin up in Bear Lake.  It was still too cold to break out our boat, but we had plenty of fun on shore.  We drove up late Friday night after Zach’s ice hockey game.  I don’t love driving up to Bear Lake (unless we go the Logan way and get to stop at Grist Mill) but I do love driving with Zach and talking with him.  We talked about all the fun things we want to do in New York, visiting other places, the Adele Concert (which got postponed), and much more.  It was my favorite part of the weekend.

Saturday morning the boys decided to go shooting.  Ahh, what a tender family picture….(plus Josh).  Warren G should have been playing in the background…

Mom and I went on a quest for butter, the only thing we forgot to bring.  We drove around the lake, talking and laughing.  I couldn’t believe how green everything was, thanks to all the rain, and the lake level was higher than I have ever seen it.  The entire beach in front of our cabin is gone.  Only about 20 yards of grass separate us from the water line.  We had an awesome dinner (thanks to our butter) and my Dad’s excellent BBQ skillz but we couldn’t stay long.  We enjoyed the drive home through Logan Canyon.

Sunday, after church, I went kind of crazy.  After our two hour nap I went on a full on mission.  I organized everything.  Our guest bedroom’s walk-in closet (which previously was a cluttered mess of all my holiday decor), our future nursery closet, our cars, my pantry, the fridge, and our coat closet.  Then I washed all our laundry, washed our bed linens, baked a couple batches of banana muffins, and even clipped some coupons.  I guess all the rain made me stir crazy inside our house.  Zach was just laughing watching me dart from on side of the house to the other.

We were a little bummed to wake up to rain Monday morning.  We did manage to run some errands and get really distracted at Barns & Noble, though.  We hit up a matinee movie and ended the night with sushi and Red Mango.  There’s nothing like a four day weekend.  We only wish it could have gone by a little slower…

Until the World Ends…

There was a lot of pressure put on this weekend, considering it was the “End of the World”.  Call it what you will…Armageddon, the Apocalypse…we had to make it count.

Friday I asked Zach what he wanted for his LAST MEAL and he requested to go to Sizzler.  Seriously, my husband’s last meal would be Sizzler.  I really dislike that restaurant and decided to eat something before we went out to eat.  When we arrived we were really surprised how many people were there.  If you have ever been to Sizzler, you would remember that you order your meal and drinks at the front before you are seated in your booth.  Zach ordered his Teriyaki steak and I told the cashier, “Well since it’s my last meal…I would like a Diet Coke.”  The employee informed me, “Sorry, we only have Pepsi.”  I replied, “You mean that for my last meal, I don’t even get a Diet Coke!?”  She obviously hadn’t heard about this so called Apocalypse…but the manager overheard our conversation and told me he could help.  Apparently someone had some Diet Coke back in the break area, and the my last supper was saved.  Say what you want about the Sizz…they go above and beyond for their customers.

So the big day finally came and I was REALLY hoping that the world didn’t end because we had planned to make jam.  Saturday afternoon my mother-in-law and a few of us gals got together to make some of Jeanene’s famous freezer jam.  It took all of us (we even recruited Zach and Mark to help stir) to have a jam session.

We filled over 100 jars of jam.  My freezer is completely full and I can cross off #47 off my “To-Do Before I Die”…Learn to make jam.

And the homemaking continued until Sunday when I decided to cook my first full bird.  I know…it sounds so stupid.  I guess the thought of cooking an ENTIRE chicken made me nervous, but with the help of my mother-in-law (again) and my sister-in-law…it turned out great!  Zach had been begging me to try it, but I kept telling him to wait for Thanksgiving.  Surprisingly it wasn’t as hard as I had built up in my mind.  Even my grandfather (who always has a bit of constructive criticism to add) loved it.  Who would have ever thought cooking a bird in a bag would turn out so great?!  Thanks Jeanene and Kristi, the ultimate homemaking hunnies!

Either way, we can both say it was a great weekend….we survived, right?

Biggest Fan

I try to attend all of Zach’s ice and roller hockey games that I can.  Recently he started up a team with his brothers, two of his nephews, a couple of cousins, and some fellow employees.  Classic Helicopters roller hockey team is legit.  Growing up at Classic Skating really did these boys justice, because they can play some MEAN roller hockey.

Last night, after my Relief Society activity, I drove down with Zach and his brother Chad for a really late roller hockey game (9:45 PM).  Because it was such a late game, some of the cousins and nephews didn’t come.  Team Classic soon realized they had no goalie.  They tried to recruit one from another team, but they all were leaving for the night.  In fear of forfeiting, Zach told the ref they really DID have a goalie, his wife.

He got me ready to go in a matter of seconds.  Before I knew it I had skates on, giant leg pads, chest and arm pads, and two REALLY wet gloves.  Well, all of the pads and equipment were wet from sweat actually.  As he shoved the helmet on my head I started to gag.  The smell was INTENSE, that “famous” hockey smell that is very difficult to wash out of pads and equipment.  I could barely stay up on my skates with the gloves and a giant stick I had to handle.  Zach’s only tip was, “If you see the puck coming at you…just fall on it.”  And that’s exactly what I did.  Chad even showed me how to get down into position, so the puck didn’t go right between my skates, and how to hold my stick.

At first I was terrified – I have been hit by the puck a few times before at Classic and it is pretty painful.  But with those big, smelly pads I barely felt a thing!  It didn’t take long for the other team to realize that I could barely skate.  Zach was yelling, “SECRET WEAPON” at the top of his lungs and people were getting a pretty good laugh.  I was horrible, but did block a few shots.  Despite my obvious lack of hand and eye coordination, Team Classic won 14 – 6 thanks to multiple goals and fast skating by our team. The guys on the other team were even yelling “MVP!” as we shook hands at the end of the game.

Even though I was terrible, I had the best seat in the house!  I am Zach’s biggest fan!

Lunch & Dinner Dates

0 Permalink 0

I have the best friends in the world.

Tuesday I got to spend time with my friends from my Design Days up in Logan.  They inspire me.  All of them are so talented and I love to hear what is going on in their lives.

Wednesday I went out to dinner with my oldest friends from elementary and middle school.  There are very few people I laugh harder with.  I adore every one of them.  One just got engaged, one has a NINE-MONTH-OLD.  It’s crazy to see how much has changed, but we are all still friends!  There is something so comforting in that.

Even today, I got to go out on a lunch date with my BFF!  We NEVER get to eat lunch together during the weekdays considering we work 25 minutes apart.  He had even been up all night working on flight stuff and took the time out of his long (and tired) day to meet me!  We practically had the whole place to ourselves and got to talk and laugh about our week.

Like I said, I have the best friends in the world.

Frazzled

I love my job.  I love my job.

I am so lucky that I get to design every day and get paid for it.  My dad always told me to pick a career I would do for free, and I am confident I have found it.

That doesn’t mean that everything always goes smoothly, unfortunately.  I got so stressed out over two inches worth of wood last week, that Zach and I decided that I was going to turn off my phone for the majority of the weekend so we could just be together with no interruptions.  It was heavenly.  No angry clients calling because we’re running behind schedule, no contractors asking ridiculous questions.

Friday, Zach and I got our new KING SIZE mattress.  Zach was worried it was going to be TOO soft when we tested it out the first time, I told him there was no such thing as “TOO SOFT”.  It’s the best mattress I’ve ever slept on…Zach is in love as well (as you can see).

We had a delicious dinner at PF Chang’s and saw a hilarious movie.  On the way home, he asked to get a Frazil from the gas station.  Then I wanted a popsicle.  Zach has got me HOOKED on these “All Fruit” popsicles, so I made him stop at the grocery store to get some more.  On the way to the frozen food section, he spotted the bread.  I believe he said, “What would it be like to have a chair made of bread?”  Then this happened….

So if you shop at the Smith’s in Bountiful…don’t buy any bread that has been smashed.  Also, you’d be surprised how many teenagers are at the grocery store at 11:45 at night.  Because while I was dancing wildly in the aisle and Zach was wondering “what a chair of rice would be like”, they caught us.  They pointed and laughed.  I thought my dance was pretty good, but that’s probably why my mom told me to “pick a new hobby” when I was younger.

Saturday we woke up early to go help my grandmother in her yard.  We had a pretty decent turn-out, and got a lot accomplished.  She loved her new flowers.

The rest of the day we spent working in our yard, doing laundry, and cleaning the house.  We didn’t get finished until 10:00 pm, and spent the rest of the night eating popsicles and watching Easy A.

I laughed the ENTIRE weekend.  Thanks to my husband, who makes me forget all the drama in the office, I enjoyed every second of it.  He’s my whole world.