Yeah for free stuff!

To celebrate Labor Day, Abby and I went to Seven Peaks for our last hoorah. The season passes were so worth it. We had already gone in the water once and were just laying out to dry off. There was a little family in front of us and they were packing up to go. The wife turned to us and asked if we wanted their rented tubes ($5 a piece). We jumped at the chance, because you can't use the free tubes in the lazy river or wave pool. We then spent the next two hours floating around Seven Peaks. We went around the Lazy River about 3 times. I was so relaxed I looked like I was dead.
Then we took them into the wave pool. We went in before the waves started to get used to it first. We've seen many people biff it getting into their tubes with the wave machine going. I didn't have any trouble with mine, but Abby was a different story. When she would get in, her legs would go straight up into the air. Then when she was trying to readjust or get comfy, she leaned back to far and disappeared. From then on, I wasn't allowed to let go of her tube. She even used the Death Grip on my leg when I let go for 5 seconds.
All and all, an awesome way to spend your last official day of summer.

I love people watching

Saturday was the bestest day ever for people watching. First Abby and I went to Seven Peaks for our weekly dose of sun and fun. I don't know what it is but when people go to the pool with a bunch of their friends, they forget that the rest of the world can still see them. Last week we saw the first Speedo of the season. Wow, words can not explain.

So we figured it was going to be tough for the pool to top that one. Never...ever...doubt the power of boys being stupid at the pool. We had two separate, but equally awesome sighting, but didn't get pictures of either (dang it). The first was the steroid triplets. These guys were there to be seen. I don't think they ever touched the water. What is with guys who think they need to be that bulky. The one guy could wear a C-cup!

Then came the big group. It was 5 guys with a few girls, so obviously they were trying to look really cool. And, oh, did they achieve their goal. Instead of swim trunks, they all opted for home-made, cut-off, denim shorts. Each had varying lengths. One had knee length, which is acceptable, but then each got shorter and SHORTER. One guy was basically wearing Daisy Duke's. And he did not have the body to pull it off. A fashion tip for the gentlemen: It's never a good thing if your shorts are shorter than the girl standing next to you.

As if the pool wasn't good enough, we also hit up the Spanish Fork Rodeo that night. The word "awesome" falls short of describing the fun, food, and people. Of course there were cowboys by the dozen and there were some FINE lookin' men in Stetsons. There was a cool old man wearing the cover-alls, the cute little boys in cowboy attire, and the prissy girl wearing high-heeled, pink Converse shoes. And let us not forget the hillbilly couple wearing their matching black wife-beaters. AMAZING!!!

Fun FHE

So Abby and I are notorious FHE gypsies. We float around within the groups in our singles ward, but we do always have a friend in the group who invites us. Last night was FHE at the bishop's and councilors' houses. We ended up going with our friend (and my former roommate) Allison, mostly because she agrees to pick us up. On the way there, we played the loudest game of Catch Phrase ever (cookie...cookie...COOKIE!!!).

Allison's group and another group were going to the Anderson's to help them clean their house, which they are fixing up to sell. They were prepare for us: there was a job chart, buckets of soapy water in every room, and enough rags to cover the floor. After an awesome lesson on hope, the mass cleaning started. Since we were the second ones to arrive, we got our pick of jobs. Abby and Allison took baseboards (I don't know why) and I got to take of every light switch cover in the house (I got to use a tool).

When you have that many people (around 20) in a townhouse, funny things just happen. They are even funnier when people are cleaning, for some reason. There were flying rags, a few minor collisions, and a little bit of dancing. And as people started finishing their jobs, there was more fun to be had. The Anderson's were prepare with drinks, brownies, ice cream, and games set up out back. I played Badminton for the first time in my life. I kind of sucked at it when we started, but it didn't matter because we played Ultimate Badminton, where you just keep whacking the shuttlecock (I was told that's what it's called) back and forth.

I also discovered that I can NOT tie a cherry stem in a knot. I tried for the first time ever last night (I don't like cherries) and I failed miserably, in front of an audience no less. And it didn't help that my friends were saying that this means I'm a sloppy kisser.

A few of us ended up stickin around and just chatting with the Andersons for a little while. They are a really cool couple that aren't much older then the rest of us, so we can all relate. We didn't realize how long we were talking and didn't leave until close to 10. We were just having too much fun.

Aunt Cindy Day

Now that my New Jersey nieces and nephew are getting older, I've started a tradition of just us spending a day together. I give their parents a break for several hours and when I return the kids, they're usually passed out, which equals NAP TIME. :)

This year I took Isabel, Cecily, and Bentley to the aquarium in Camden. This aquarium is officially cool. Not only did they have escalators, which Bentley very proudly rode by himself 7 times, they've got lots of fun things to see. They've got hippos.

They make you feel like royalty.

They have a walk-through, shark-infested tube. (I said to look scared, so Bentley ran away.)

You can even have three children eaten by a giant foam shark.

They've even got sea turtles, and these ones were, as Bentley said, "gianamic."

But I thought this one, and his friends were much better. Except maybe not the scary last one.

They hooked you up with cool shades to see "SpongeBob SquarePants in 4-D!"

And plus, you get tons of cute pictures.

After the aquarium we went out to lunch at Friendly's, which is a favorite of both mine and the kids. If you don't know what it is, you should, and I feel a little sad for you. Then, since the kids had been so good, I wanted to reward them. So we stopped by Five Below, which is an upscaled version of a dollar store (everything is $5 or below, hence the name). Everyone found exactly what they wanted, eventually, but Bentley found the coolest sunglasses ever along the way. Elton John, eat your heart out.

The Little Fireworks Show That Could

So, my family is really big on fireworks. In years past, my brothers and I have tried numerous times to blow ourselves, and innocent bystanders, to bits. We love making stuff explode. That's why we really love the Fourth of July because all other Americans join us in our passion for potentially deadly entertainment.

Now usually we are down at the shore in Ocean City. We rent a beach house and stay for a week, Saturday to Saturday. We play all week and love the fireworks show down by the boardwalk. They spend over a million dollars on fireworks! The show usually last over 30 minutes. It is amazing. Unfortunately, this year the Fourth fell on the Saturday that we had to be out, so we had to find alternate fireworks. And this was not the year to be trying new places. With the way the economy is going, a lot of towns cut their fireworks budget completely. (Good for budget, bad for pyromaniacs.)

My brother went online and found some not too far away. The directions said to go to this park, but when we get to the park, there were only a few cars there. Even though we were early, we knew something wasn't right. We finally asked some people who were leaving and they said that they had heard the fireworks were going to be a the nearby high school. So we drive over there, and we found all the people. Cars were parked for miles. Now, keep in mind, we have three kids under the age of 8, all of whom could run a mile in 5 flat, but if they are commanded to walk, "their legs are tired." After driving around, and hearing a lot of whining, we found a miraculous parking spot not far from the back corner of the field. We found a big open spot, spread out our blankets and waited.

Now, just to give an idea of how organized this show was, nobody knew which direction the fireworks would be and they said they started at "dusk." Try to explain to a 3 year old how many more minutes until dusk. But we had fun. We chased fireflies, ate candy, my nephew literally jumped on my dad yelling "Wake up!" But by 9:15, we all were getting antsy. People were shooting of their own fireworks, so nobody knew what was going on. Then we saw flashing lights behind a bunch of trees on the other side of a hill. They kept going, but we could hardly see anything. After 15 minutes they stopped. My parents thought that we had ended up in the wrong place and had missed the show. So they started packing up to go. I can't really blame them, because by this time, it was 9:45 and we had tired kids.

As we started back to the car, my niece lost it. She had been looking forward to seeing fireworks all week. She just kept crying, "This is the worst Fourth of July EVER!" We get to the car and just as we start to climb in, the sky exploded. Turns out, our fireworks show was waiting for another show to end, but they didn't tell anyone. We all ran over to a spot where we could see. And it was awesome. About of fourth of it was blocked by trees, but the kids still loved it. I had my 3-year-old nephew on my shoulders and he just kept shouting "WOW", "COOL", and "BIG BOOM!" Ahhh, the next generation of explosive lovers.

I love the shore

In New Jersey, you don't go to the beach for the day. You go down to the shore. (No matter which direction you are heading, it is always "down.") Once you are down at said shore, you then sit on the actual beach (which is the sandy, oceany part). Just thought I would clarify that first.

Every year, my family makes our annual pilgrimage to the shore. This has been going on for generations and is awesome. We rent a house and stay down for a whole week. This is truly the only way to enjoy the shore. If you come down for one day, you have a lot of fun and all, but then you have to make the drive back, with sand in your pants no less. We do it right. You sleep in, maybe ride bikes or play mini-golf in the morning, spend the entire afternoon playing/roasting on the beach, and then clean up to go play on the boardwalk at night. And the kids love it because, as my niece put it, "there are no bedtimes at the beach house."


Many pictures are sure to follow and the story of our fun trip to the aquarium, but I just wanted to put my love of the shore out there.

My Face Hurts

So yesterday was the much dreaded root canal. And if that wasn't bad enough, I had to be there at 8 AM. Voluntary torture and I had to wake up early for it? Evil! It started out not so bad. They have a head-set so you can watch a movie as they destroy your mouth. And they used one of those things to keep my mouth open for me, so I just blocked out everything they were doing and enjoyed my movie. For two hours, there was nothing but drills. I think I can live the rest of my life without ever hearing a dental drill again.

When I originally went in, they told me that when I came back, they would put in a temporary crown, and do the real one about two weeks later. But when I went in yesterday, they said they were going to do it all in one shot. They apparently have machine that can shape the porcelain tooth right in their office. So this maybe two hour appointment turned into 4 1/2 hours at the dentist! Ahhh! In between the stuff he was doing on me, the dentist worked on about 7 other patients. I really wanted to smack the guy I over heard saying that it was so painful to have your teeth cleaned by the dentist.

After my new tooth was shaped and polished (it's very smooth), the dentist came back in to put everything in. What is it with dentist and treating your mouth like it can't feel pain. By this time all the Novocain had worn off, but this guy was shoving his entire fist in my mouth. He cracked the side my mouth and my cheek still hurts today from him ripping over to the side. Not don't get me wrong, this dentist is awesome, but I think by the end he just wanted to get me out of there. When we were almost done, he kept telling me to open wider. Finally the nice hygienist reminded him that my jaw had been open for 4 hours and might be a little tired and sore. When it was all done, I walked out with a nice-new-shiny tooth, a fat lip, and a whole lot poorer.