The XXI O-WHIMP-ics

I like the Olympics. Partly b/c it consists of weird sports that nobody ever really sees the 3 other years that the Olympics aren't on. Take curling. I think I could do curling. I practice almost daily. Well, the sweeping part. I guess I ought to start pushing my children down the ice to bump each other out of the circle for the full practice.

But it has really started to bother me that most of the athletes are younger than I am. I mean let's face it: I am a year and a half from 30. I didn't think it would bother me to get older but everyone always talks about how they wish they were in their 20's again. So, I've decided to really "live up" the rest of my 20's. I decided to give snowboarding a whirl--something I've always wanted to try and to prove to everyone how spry I was. After all, I'd been inspired by Shawn White....

The "bright" idea came while I was up at Pomerelle with Dad, Jace the Race, and Super-Decca. JC and Decca are multi-talented and can do either or. Dad is a die-hard skiier (my favorite part of the day came when Dad started giving me advice about how to snowboard). Jessica and I have the same shoe size and we talked about switching. So, towards the end of the day, we switched.

(Picture insert: this is Pomerelle two years ago. Top is Dad and I skiing. Bottom is Decca putting on her bindings and the ACTUAL snowboard that I rode).

First problem: I couldn't get up. Second problem: I couldn't figure out how to steer the dang thing. Uggh. I was so discouraged but sweet Decca had turned into MEAN, ORNERY Decca and wouldn't give me back my skiis. I figured out that if I flipped the board over so I was face down, I could get on my hands and knees and get up. Then thanks to Ms. Ornery, I actually learned to steer. Third Problem: I'm right-foot first, not left-foot first like Decca. She also forgot to tell me not to catch myself on my wrists.

But in the end, I made it down the mountain. Not gracefully, but I was starting to get the feel.

All-in-all, I'm still on Lindsay Vonn's side and I'll be spending most of my days on two rather that bound to one. I'll probably even try it again. But for now, I'm enjoying the Olympics in the La-Z-Boy STILL massaging my sore shoulders (yeah, how come my shoulders are sore?) and wrists. But how does Shawn White do it?

More Hyisms...

There was once a sick little boy that had to take some NAAAH-STUH-EEEE medicine. His mom even had to set him up on the counter so he couldn't run away. He remembered what it tasted like yesterday.

(10 minutes has elapsed)

With the bribery of cookies, he began...

Yay for the champion! I asked him if he wanted a gold medal, but he preferred the cookie!

• We were having a very late Chinese New Year dinner and Hy opened his own fortune cookie. Ev asked him what it said. Hy: "I'm going to Poppa's house!" We didn't think he even knew what a fortune cookie was. But it probably will come true :)


• The next night, I spilt something on my shirt. Hy asked, quite concerned, "You spill?" I said, "Yeah." He grabbed his cup and sloshed it on his shirt. "I spilled, too," he explained, trying to make sure I wasn't alone in my clumsiness.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hy with his new tie, from Jed & Annie Ly........on (it almost rhymed).

Riley and Aunt Jessica in their matching dresses. They looked so cute together two Sundays ago that I BEGGED Decca to wear hers on V-day and Riley would and I'd take a pic. So, there you have it. Aren't they dolls?

V-day fondue

A couple of weeks ago I hosted my first fondue party. It was a BLAST! (Although I wasn't a big fan of my first cheese fondue...any good recipes? without the brandy?) We had the Lyons, Humphries, and the 3 Iverson bros from the "other side of the mountain" and their wives. We made it into a Valentine's shin-dig since we really live so far to "go out on the town". It was a good time!

Fun with the Humphries

I got to babysit the two youngest Humphries this last week while their parents went on a getaway. (Jessica & Steve took the night shift when the older 3 came home from school). We had a good ol' time. We ate, played, took naps, watched some tv, and I even had the 4,010 shoes carried out of the mudroom so I could vacuum thanks to my little shoe carriers (Ev came in a said, "Oh that's why you want more kids---slave labor." Right.....)

As you can tell, we had a FUN time!!

Beating the winter

Riley was looking through her wardrobe this morning and said, "Mom, I'm so weary of these drab winter days."
Me: "So what would you like to do about it dear?"
But her toesies got cold, so she compromised a little and put on her fashionable cowgirl boots.

My Man Child

Has anyone ever watched "Swamp Loggers" off of the Discovery Channel? Probably not. If not, here is a little bit of it from YouTube.

When you are a wife to Evan and the mother of Hyrum, on Friday nights, it's just what you do. It is a gross, hairy man show that is all about dirt, mud, big equipment, etc. I love the old trucker that has to have subtitles although he IS speaking English. Kind of. Anyway, I think to Hy, this show ranks as high or higher than "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse."
Here he is sporting his bubble moustache like "B Papa" or Grandpa Bernie. And this is the handsome bugger all cleaned up and ready for church. (And yes, for those of you that knew Ev in college, that is Ev's old ivy hat from his BYU-I days).

Moving heifers

Everyday Ev moves the heifers from a feedlot to a pasture about a mile away. He uses his dogs and drives in the pickup...a lot easier than he used to do it.

Lexi is starting the herd. Now they're following behind the truck on the road.

Me and Riley taking pictures from the passenger seat.

Hyrum talking to someone on the cell phone while Dad drives.

"Carrot" (or "Pumpkin" as some as you like to call her) and I were discussing things about life like politics, the current economy, the future....you know, usually mother and daughter topics, when she told me that she would like to become a beautician. She gave me some pictures of a few of her latest hairdos...

I said we'd talk about it.