Dixie Cup

This post is over a week late but here it is.... we went to St. George!! It was so nice! Going to hot places in the spring makes it really easy to see why people live there.....in the spring ;) No really it was so beautiful!! Parker and his dad were invited to play 3 rounds of golf with Dr. Pickup and a bunch of his friends....they call it the "Dixie Cup." (Dr. Pickup is a dentist in Burley....very nice man.) Parker's sister, Katelyn, got us an awesome deal on our hotels down there. We left thursday night after work and drove as far as Provo. Paul didn't get off work till after 7:00 so we didn't get to Provo until about 11:45. We woke up the next morning at 6:00 (ick) and drove the rest of the 4 hours down to St. George. The boys had a tee time at about 11:30. Phew! While they golfed, Claudia and I went shopping. Our first stop was Kohl's. Mom had never been to Kohl's before. We were there for an hour and a half! But I got me some new clothes, and some black flatts.

We also went to the Temple visitor's center. Robyn was awesome enough to drive up from Vegas and hang out with us for a day on Friday. She brought the kids too. We did some shopping while she was in town as well. (Well what else is there to do while the boys are out golfing all day?)

These are Robyn's kids: Lucas and Kayleigh. Super cute!

Now, I have to say- it was SOOO nice to wake up every morning by my own will. No children. No alarms. No nothing!! My parents took the kids while we were gone, and so we were on our own for 4 days. I missed the kids a lot actually....but it was still super nice to get away!


Each evening after the guys were done playing golf, we had a group dinner. The first night was Texas Roadhouse, the 2nd was Chillis (not my favorite...but that's ok). They presented awards for who got the lowest scoress for the day and so-forth. Then Dr. Pickup invited us to his house (mind you...his SECOND house...) for dessert, and a movie. Now. Let me just ATTEMPT to desscribe the nice-ness of this house. You walk into a large room with tile floors, vaulted ceilings and a view of the 24-hr lighted staircase that leads to the basement. The entire house is decorated with stuff from Tai Pan. Now PLEASE. Click the link and take a look!

The back wall has a dark red wood entertainment center with leather couches, coffee table and big-screen TV. Turn right into the kitchen, complete with stainless steel appliances, custom cabinets and granite countertops. The back tdoor to the kitchen is a sliding-glass door that leads to the back porch. Which stretches the ENTIRE length of the house. And...it overviews the first hole of the golfcourse. The kitchen also has a 10 ft walk-in pantry complete with food storage. If you turn left after coming inot the house, it's the master..SUITE. Huge bedroom....with another big-screen TV. The bathroom is decorated nicer than anything I've ever seen. Of course, it's complete with double sinks, jacuzzi tub, and a walk-in shower (that means....no door). The bathroom has a door the the walk-in closet.....which is also the laundry room. The closet is the size of....my bedroom. Nuff said.

If you go to the basement, at the bottom of the stairs is another big-screen TV complete with Wii gaming system, and another leather couch. To the right at the bottom of the stairs is the theatre room. It has 20 reclining chairs. 4 levels with 5 chairs each. And a projection screen. As you might predict.....it's complete with digital surround sound. To the LEFT of the staircase are the bedrooms. There are five. Each room has a queen-size bed and a small flat-screen TV. (One of those rooms, has 2 queen-size beds). There are also 3 FULL bathrooms in the basement. Each with a walk-in shower. And in the center of all these rooms behind the staircase, is the pool table. There is also a 2nd laundry room in the basement, that doesn't get used.

HOLY COW!! And lets not forget....it's their SECOND HOME! Here's the best part about it. These people are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Not for a single second did they make us feel like they were better than anybody else. They were kind and hospitable. (I forgot to mention the OTHER guest bedroom upstairs where the office is supposed to be....that room has a king-size bed). The REASON there are 7 bedrooms in this house, is because they love to bring guests when they go to St. George. Every room was occupied that weekend. And they were so nice!! We got to watch a movie ("RED") in that theatre room. Talk about awesome!

Below is some pictures of the guys in the group. The first picture is Parker and Dr. Pickup.

And this last picture is the whole group. We really did have such a blast in St. George. I hope we get to go again next year!

Lime Away

The picture below is my bathtub. Don't judge. This picture was taken AFTER a routine scrubbing with comet, and a scotch-brite sponge. I am actually pretty good at cleaning my bathrooms. I try to do it every week.....sometimes we go 2, but anyway. My tub has looked like this since the day we bought the house. I cleaned it the best I could with comet and some serious elbow greese......nothing changed. The bottom of the tub is textured so, I assumed it was some kind of stain.

Yesterday I was using lime away on the faucet to get the hard water stains off. (I always do this). And as I turned to put the bottle back, I mindlessly sprayed the bottom of the tub. I moved on to the sink and mirrors. When I looked back in the tub......there were white spots where I had sprayed! Could it be?!! It DOES come off?!! So I completely COVERED the bottom of that tub with lime away. Then I let it sit for 5 minutes. This time.....I used a bristle brush instead of a scotch-brite sponge. Wouldn't you know?!! Voila!!!

Not a single dark spot!! Thank you ISU dental hygiene for teaching me about lime away. It's a necessity for all bathroom cleanings. My tub doesn't look nasty anymore!! YAY!!

A Blast from the Past

Last weekend mom and dad came to visit and to hear Elder Nelson. When they came they brought 2 boxes full of my old stuff from High School, that I'd never gotten from their house. Inisde one of those boxes: dun dun dun!!! Yearbooks and journals. Incase you didn't know, I was WAY good at journal writing in High School. I had 16 journals. Each written from cover to cover. Re-reading them has been like reading a thriller! I've been having so much fun. And remembering how people have touched my life. And seeing how some of those people have changed.

I'm trying to take snippets about people that have been particularly touching, and e-mail them. I think it's cool to let other people know how they touched my life as well. Some particular ones, like when my sister and my brother got home from their missions. When Anna started dating Alex, I wrote about him and what I saw in her. And things I'd written about my parents. I just can't believe how those years laid the foundation for who I would become. I was a very faithful youth. And each page is not only written about the goings-on of my life, but the progress of my testimony and faith.

One volume is missing. And it's one of the best ones! I have these journals numbered one through sixteen....and Journal #15 is missing. It spans about four months of my senior year in high school. I hope I find it. I don't even know where to look. I can't even remember what the cover looks like. It kinda makes me sad, since I've enjoyed the journals from my senior year more than any others.

Among one of the people that was in my life was one young man in particular. I never got extremely close to him. I took him to Sadies my senior year. And after graduation he joined the marines and he wrote me a few letters from boot camp. He was never particularly strong. But I always had such high hopes for him. I always thought if he could just get his act together, he could be so strong. And I always told him about that potential I saw in him. He had married his High School girlfriend, and last I'd heard she was pregnant and they were getting divorced. I'd always wondered what happened to him. Yesterday I found him on Facebook. He's gay. My heart sank. Really? THAT'S the direction he decided to go? He's a FATHER for pete's sake! AUGH! I felt sick. This new information totally ruined my day. I felt......so awful for the rest of the day. He'd written me one particular letter from boot camp.....it was 9 pages long. He'd told me how I'd really inspired him to want to be a better person, and hopefully prepare for a mission. How my example had touched his life. Augh. It makes me sick. I'm completely beside myself. Not completely surprised.....he always wanted to be accepted. And kinda.....took the easy way out of some things (I'd thought). And now this. Not surprised.....just SO disapointed.

Among other things, my journals are stuffed with e-mail inserts from friends and crushes. I am amazed at how good I was at always keeping the future in sight. I had my share of crushes in High School. Some quite intense. I never pursued them. I always thought it was stupid to have a boyfriend in High School if you wanted to marry a returned missionary (which of course I did). Why get attached to someone you were gonna have to break up with? It was because of this attitude, I made it all through school without a boyfriend, and without kissing. My first kiss was Parker, who eventually became my husband.

I wrote these journals....mostly for my children. I hope they can learn from the things I learned in my youth. I hope they will enjoy reading them someday.

Elder Nelson

Today Elder Russell M. Nelson came to our stake conference here in Filer. Pretty awesome I thought. It wasn't even a regional conference, it was just our stake (I am not sure why....but that's the way it was.) I invited my parents and Grandma Willis to come down and listen. So they arrived yesterday, and we all went to a session in the temple. We had dinner and then visited for the rest of the evening.

This morning we got up and had breakfast and got ready. We were supposed to be in our seats at 9:00 and it started at 9:30. Mom, dad, and grandma went at 8:45 (thinking they'd go early and save seats)....no. 8:45 put them 2 rows in front of the stage......yeah. Apparently they should've shown up at 8:15. The conference was really good. I just can't get over how lucky we were to get to listen to a prophet of God in our OWN building!

While Elder Nelson was speaking, he asked the primary children to all stand up so he could see them. Of course.....even standing on their chairs they weren't much taller than the heads in front of them. So he asked them to raise their hands. Caleb stuck his arms way up in the air and wiggled his fingers. Then he asked those children to sing "I am a child of God". Wow. Something about primary children singing ALWAYS gets to me. I sat and cried while I watched my little boy sing the song he knew so well. So powerful.

Elder Nelson spent a lot of time talking about things we should be teaching our children. Like how to pray, and to gather for family home evening. He talked about the struggles of gathering his ten children for family night each week. His work schedule was busy because he was a heart surgeon. Their family prayer and scripture study was at 6:30 AM. Ick. But even though it was difficult, and probably not always done as well as it should be......all ten of his children (as he reports) have family scriptures and prayers with their own children, better than he ever did with them. But the foundation was made. And it made a difference.

I was so glad we had the opportunity to hear the words of an apostle at stake conference today. I hope I can remember the things he taught.

January

Twas the month after Christmas
And all through the house
Nothing would fit me
Not even a blouse

The cookies I'd nibbled
The chocolate I'd taste
At the holiday parties
Had gone to my waist

When I got on the scales
There arose such a number!
When I walked to the store
(less a walk than a lumber)

I'd remember the marvellous meals I'd prepared
The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared
The wine and the rum balls the bread and the cheesee
And the way I'd never said "No thank you please."

As I dressed myself in my husband's old shirt
And prepared once again to do battle with dirt…
I said to myself as I only can
"You can't spend a winter disguised as a man!"

So away with the last of the sour cream dip
Get rid of the fruit cake every cracker and chip.
Every last bit of food that I like must be banished
Till all the additional pounds have vanished.

I won't have a cookie not even a lick.
I'll want only to chew on a long celery stick.
I won't have hot biscuits or corn bread or pie.
I'll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.

I'm hungry I'm lonesome and life is a bore...
But isn't that what January is for?
Unable to giggle no longer a riot.
Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet

What a great year ANGIE!

My baby girl is a year old today. How fast time flies! I can't believe it's allready been that long! She's so beautiful and such a joy! And yesterday (just in time for her birthday) she decided to start walking. She falls all the time....but she gets back up to walk instead of crawl. It's like she decided to grow up over night. And I still can't help thinking about how she was the size of my two hands. So tiny. I would really like my readers to re-watch the video of the day we brought her home. Click HERE


And finally a month-by-month re-cap of Angie's life so far.....

January 15, 2010

Angie Nicole Lyons was born at 6:04 AM. 6lbs 10 oz. A painful delivery. Always worth it.

February

March

April

May

June

July

August-September

October

November

December

January 15, 2011

(Today)

I love my baby girl! I am so blessed to have such wonderful children. I really think I got lucky with these two. Even down to the little things.....they both sleep well at night. Very well-mannered. They don't cry all that much. And overall I just have very happy children. I am so blessed to have Angie in my life. I'm so excited to see her continue to grow. At the same time.... Iwish she'd just stay little forever. But....as you can see from the last 12 pictures.....she's not doing that at all. She just keeps growing. Sigh.

Lame....

Every winter our driveway does this....

It starts when it snows. Then it melts. Then the moisture goes into the ground. Then it freezes again and expands. And then up goes the driveway. It's about 2 inches high right now.
Then as the ground moves up....this happens.....

The siding that trimms the garage door starts to wrinkle and bend. It feels like there's stairs into the garage.

I'm sure the genius who built this house was supposed to do something in order for this to not happen.....but.....obviously they didn't. Pretty lame huh?