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Blogger error code: 16386 (Wed Mar 30 11:09:35 ART 2016)

Semi-annual post...not a moment too soon

Seeing as it has been 6 months, I thought it was about time that I edit my blog. Kinda like those baths that you take every year if you need it or not....

This has been quite a full summer what with my busy work schedule. I even put in 80 hours of work one week...of course I did want to shoot myself after that, but I did it, and no one died or was even seriously maimed...Mist all of this I did manage to squeeze in quite a few trips/adventures, shown here:

Trip to Grand Canyon/Mesa Verde with Nephi, Martha, Aaron and families;





Girls Camp;

Two wedding cake weekend...that I still worked;


Bear Lake with Martha & Fam

I Enjoy Nursinghood

I have just decided that I chose the right profession. Let me list a few of the reasons:
1. I work 6 days (actually nights) and then get 8 off!!! i.e. vacation every other weekend... ie lots of traveling...assuring that my neipoos get plenty of good attention.

2. I get to listen to awesome, gruesome facts about people's lives that they would be embarrassed/horrified to share with anyone else...usually starting with: "Well, you're a nurse..."

3. I help people to feel better. You may not know this, but I'm kind of a people pleaser. I like people to feel happy because somehow I can feel their emotion and when they don't feel happy, I don't like it.

4. I get to work 12 hour night shifts. Many of you think that this is the largest manifestation of my insanity (and maybe it is) but I really enjoy getting paid to be up all night. I like sleeping all day. I like feeling as if my schedule is so flexible that I won't get too grumpy if someone calls me at 3 o'clock in the morning or at 11am when I only went to bed at 7. I might not remember everything that was said in a conversation at any of these times....but it really doesn't bother me.

5. I enjoy using military time. There is something about calling it 2100 that makes 9:00pm something special and unique.

6. I have a lot of fun zipping up and down the hall on an IV pole. It probably is against more than one code...but it gets me there fast, is easy on the feet, and I look darn good doing it...there is some exotic dancer hiding just beneath the surface...

7. I like the reminder that death isn't in any way, shape, or form, the enemy of life.

I really could be a nurse for free....if only I didn't have to pay for this house....does anyone want to pay it off for me so that I can be a nurse for free....and travel even more to see my neipoos?

p.s. Dawney, I really like being able to work with you!

Lexie's Cake

So I drove all night to get to Colorado where I slaved over a hot stove...tried not to burn down the Stoehr's house and produced the marvel you see before you. Lexie's lucky I love her so.


Actually it was quite fun and I didn't work as hard as everyone else...in fact, I squeezed in a nap every single day, including wedding day.

Girls Camp

So I got to go up this year with the 2nd years to girls camp at MIA Shalom near Fairview. It was quite an enjoyable experience notwithstanding all of the work it took to get me there and keep me alive....




















I had this awesome camp refrigerator that I made from a 54 gallon trash can lined with wall insulation. I froze the milk, orange juice and basically anything else that would freeze and just stuck it in all together. Then I topped it all off with a bunch of frozen water in 2 quart juice bottles. It stayed frozen. I took ice cream up for a birthday party as well as otter pops and they were good and frozen later that day. I had to thaw the milk and orange juice by the fire the next morning and all of the other days I took it out the afternoon before I was to use it and thus had milk/orange juice with ice floes instead of solid ice blocks. When I went home on Saturday, I still had lots of solidly frozen milk.

I had over-calculated the food, first because there were only 17 people instead of the 25 I had planned for and secondly because the girls ate less than I thought they would. I also had never bought food for that amount of people for that amount of time before and found that I wanted to truss them every second with so much food and variety...well, now I know. Almost everything was successful. We had shish-kabobs and fruit kabobs, breakfast burritos (made with individual ziploc omelets) with bacon and sausages, Hawaiian haystacks, pancakes with bacon and sausages, taco soup and chicken stew, and french toast with...bacon and sausages.

I should have started about 1 hour earlier on the chicken stew because it had only had about 30 minutes on the coals when we were ready to eat, but I figure if that was the worst of my screw ups, then I was doing pretty well. No one starved, and all in all, I believe they enjoyed themselves. The girls performed a very great skit for the skit night and I've included it here... Mary is quite a comedian to be sure.

Another Cake...the biggest one ever...well, yet...

After slaving for the past two weeks in the hot kitchen (I of course am speaking of my oven. Myself, I was watching seasons 1 and 2 of M*A*S*H) I finally have something to show. Last week I baked all million cakes that I needed for the Smith reception and froze them in a neighbor's freezer. I then carted them all back Thursday and Friday and covered them with delectible frosting. This is the biggest cake that I've ever made, and chocolate frosting is more difficult to work with, just so you know. Well, maybe not more difficult, it is just different. My blood, sweat and tears went into this cake....or maybe just my blood and sweat...or maybe I mopped up the sweat and squelched the blood before it actually made it inside of the cake. Anyhow, without further ado:

A new piano for ellen

In the four hours that I got to be home between the YCL retreat and the Ward Youth Conference, I went online to KSL.com and found a piano. I then enlisted the help of some strapping young men and some strapping from my friend, along with another friend's pickup to take the piano from its old home in Pleasant Grove to its new home underneath the mirror in my Africa room. It looks quite nice there. I am quite excited for the opportunity I'll have, after my thesis is written, of course, to take lessons. Perhaps I'll be able to play more than the five songs that I've had memorized since I was twelve, or at least that is my goal. Happy playing!

Hail the Conquering Hero

Samuel ran his very first marathon this last Saturday and did an awesome job. I met him first at the midway point and then at the finish line. He did it in 3hours 12 minutes...a great time for anyone, especially a first timer. He was 5th in his age category, 26th male finisher and 29th finisher overall. He was a bit sore afterward...but no toenails falling off (that I know of) Congratulations bro!!!

Goblin Valley

Memorial Day was quite fun. I hopped into some borrowed wheels (because mine were bald---but I got them fixed) and drove down with Martha to the beautiful Goblin Valley where we camped and then hiked in Little Wildhorse Canyon. On the way in we rehearsed to the kids the dangers of flash floods in the narrow canyon. We taught them well, because just after lunch (we were at this point as far in as we could go without wading through lots of deep, nasty water) the clouds were gathering and at the sign of the first raindrops the girls started running out of the canyon. They were very scared as the water cascaded down from the sky as well as the surrounding cliffs. Very wet we emerged from the canyon and made our way home. I think the three older girls enjoyed most the lively rendition of "He Jumped From Forty Thousand Feet Without a Parachute" as I maneuvered the van through the increasingly muddy roads, hoping and praying that I would not get stuck or slide off the road.

A kitchen area with shelves full of knicknacks

Some beautiful but ominous clouds....We experienced half of Green River's annual rainfall on our way back through.

Easter Fun

I got to go up and play with Martha and the kids. We enjoyed a great Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Hayes' house. I spent most of the time helping either Sarah or Charles-man and by the time I got around to the back, Marah had already found about 20 eggs and was headed inside....so I didn't get a picture of her in action...but here are the others

Springtime!!!

Well, I am loving this house more and more, especially because the lady that lived here before me was such a great gardener and now all sorts of flowers are coming up all on their own. I have given away two or three little bouquets of daffodils. I am so excited to have beautiful flowers, hyacinths, crocuses, daffodils, tulips, forget-me-nots, and lots that I don't even know yet what kind they will be! I also planted peas and cilantro in my garden today....just before the storm. I am going to have such great food all summer long from my very own garden.
















I also made a quilt recently. The other youngster in our crochet club just had a baby and the nursery is decorated in a jungle theme. I therefore made the very cutest jungle quilt for a little girl you have ever seen. Little Eva looks very comfortable wrapped up in her snuggly blanket.