Cruises

Last night while I was text-chatting with my good friend Brittney Bell Thompson, the subject of cruises came up. I couldn't believe that I had neglected to mention to her that I am going on a cruise in September. She asked me who was going so I thought I'd put together a little roster for her, and the rest of you, to look at. I also put a count down on the side of this page so everyone can be just as excited as I am. :)

First, I've got last year's cruise roster

And this year's cruise roster

Let me know if you want to come next year. :)

The Saddest Day of My Life . . .

. . . okay so I've probably had sadder days than this, but at the moment I felt completely helpless with an overwhelming amount of anguish. I felt as if my child was horribly hurt and all I could do was watch. (I know all of you mothers out there will most assuredly make fun of me for this, but it's honestly how I felt. So, even though my Hank is not a real boy, like your children, he is real to me and there is no other way to describe it.)

I must now explain the whole story in great detail. Lets go back a little:

Christmas, 2005. Hank and I had been a pair for a little over a year now and I wanted to get him something really special. Something both he and I had wanted since the day we met, . . . new tires! There were a few things holding us back. Money, for one, and the desire to have the biggest and baddest, hard core mudders around. So, naturally, we'd need to give Hank a little bit of height before switching the tires.

I'd done my research and found what I believed to be the best looking tires out there. Toyo Open Country M/T's. Now, mudders are quite expensive so it took me a while to save up enough cash to buy them, but I did it. I even found them at a store in Bountiful for a really good price. So I called them up and snatched the last set. The only problem was, I didn't have my lift kit installed yet. Don't worry, the lift was ready to go, we just had to wait until Jarred (the best brother-in-law in the history of brother-in-laws) had a free weekend to help me (yes, when I say help me, I actually mean he would do all the work and I would watch and occasionally hand him tools.) I didn't want you thinking that I go out and buy tires without lift-kits properly installed first, all willy-nilly like.

I explained to the nice man at the tire store that I would like to purchase the tires now but I can't put them on my Jeep for 3 more weeks. Then I asked him if I should come pick them up now and bring them back when I was ready for mounting, or if he could hold them for the 3 weeks until I had the lift on. The man was so nice. He told me he would be happy to hold them for me and to give me a call the day before I was coming so he could pull them out of storage. So nice.

Two weeks passed since that conversation and Jarred and I finished the lift, a week before schedule. I was so excited! I called up the nice man at the store, expecting him to be just as excited, and told him I would be by in the morning to have my tires mounted. Yay!

. . . the phone went silent.

Not dead, as in hung up on, just silent like the person on the other end didn't even want to breathe in the hopes that I would forget about our conversation, hang up, and never call again. But I didn't hang up. Instead, I repeated the last sentence at a slower speed, thinking that maybe, in all my excitement, I spoke too quickly and he didn't have time to absorb everything I just said. It worked. He finally responded.

"Um . . . tomorrow's not gonna work for me. We're . . . um . . . really busy." His voice quivered.

"Oh. Well, that's okay. I can come on Saturday. I know I'll look really silly driving around this huge jeep with these teeny-tiny tires, but that's okay right, it's only a couple of days and it's not as if it's hurting anything, it's not going to hurt anything right?! My jeep will be okay if I keep the little tires on til then, right?!" I said with the same excited tone, which quickly turned into a mild hysteria.

"No, no, you'll be just fine driving on those tires." The man assured me. "But we're, um, busy on, um, Saturday too. Can you give me, um, like a week or so? I can, um, fit you in next Saturday." A weird sort of desperation creeped into his voice as he said this.

"A week?!" I chirped. I was shocked. How could this store be so busy that they couldn't fit me in for a whole week? "I don't really want to wait that long. That's okay, I'll just come in to get my tires and I'll take them somewhere else to get mounted. Thanks, though." I was still pretty cheerful even though now I had to figure out who I could con into letting me borrow their truck because there was no way 4 big 35x12.5 Toyo Open Country M/T tires were going to fit in my little jeep.

The phone went silent again.

"Hello? Are you still there?" I asked.

". . . well, you see . . . um . . . I don't have your tires in the store right now." He whispered. The desperation still in his voice.

"What?!!! Where are they?!!!" I was so worried.

". . . well, you see . . . they were the last set we had."

"And?!!!! "

". . . um . . . well . . . I sold them." His voice trailed off, back into a whisper.

"What?!!! How?!! I don't understand! I already paid for those tires! How can you sell something that's already been purchased?!!!" I was starting to scream then. I could actually feel the blood going to my head and I had to concentrate really hard to just breathe and calm down a little.

"I know, ma'am, I'm sorry. It's just that they were the last set we had in the store. I can get a new set by next Saturday. I'm so sorry." He was extremely apologetic, which actually helped me calm down.

I took a deep breath and said. "That's okay, I can wait a week. As long as you can get them by next Saturday, it should be okay." We ended the conversation with his promise to have the tires no later than Saturday. It really was an honest mistake. He thought he would have one more week to replace the tires. No harm done, right?

Wrong!

About two hours after hanging up with him, he called me. His voice wasn't apologetic this time. He told me that after speaking with the store manager, he found out that the Toyo Open Country M/T's were on back order. He found another store that had a set but they were $200 more than what I had already paid and that if I wanted them I was going to have to pay the difference. I was outraged! I tried to argue with him, telling him it was his fault and that the store should have to pay the difference. In the end, arguing got me no where. I even asked to speak with the manager, who was extremely rude and not the least bit apologetic for the situation. He told me that there was no way he would pay the difference. So, I gave up. I asked for a refund and started looking for new tires at a different store, right then. Then the manager then proceeded to tell me that it would be 3-4 days before he could refund the money. That fired me up again. I just didn't understand how they could immediately withdraw funds from my account using my debit card, but they couldn't possibly refund the money immediately. What was the hold up? If I wasn't getting my Toyo's, I certainly wasn't going to sit around for 3-4 days so I could pay for different tires.

But, of course, I lost that battle. I waited the 3 days that it took for the money to show up in my account and I purchased new tires.

Now, although this story was quite upsetting to me at the time, it turned out to be one of the best things that could have happened. During those 3 waiting-for-my-money days, I found new tires. Better tires! I couldn't believe I had overlooked them during my original search. The moment I saw the Goodyear Wrangler MTR's, I was hooked. Those were my tires! Sure, they were a little more expensive. $200 more than the Toyo's, but for some reason that measly little $200 was not an issue as I willingly forked over the cash for the most perfect tires I had ever seen.

Hank loved them too. It was if they were made for each other.

Hank was lookin' so good. He had a growth spurt and some shiny new digs to complement his new towering physique. Complete bliss. Not even one problem, and that's the way it's been ever since.

. . .

Until a month ago.

To be continued . . .

Whew!

I know I've been out of it for a little while - but I have an excuse. I've been re-reading the Twilight books to prepare for the release of the fourth book in the series, Breaking Dawn. Every spare moment I've had went to reading. Now, I know what you're going to say gosh, you're a slow reader but I would contest that. I think I'm an average-paced reader. It's just that I haven't had a lot of free moments and the ones I do get are usually stolen from "working hours" ha ha ha.

Well I'm back now, I finished Breaking Dawn last night (Yes, a whole day or two after most of my friends, I know. Again, with the slow reader thing. Sheesh, ease up!) and I would now like to discuss - PLEASE! Don't worry I'm not going to spoil anything for those of you who are slower readers than I am. (Ha ha!) I'm going to start my discussion on the comment board, so don't go there if you haven't finished the book. (Or in Brittney's case, even started the series yet. Come On Already! I promise if you give it even half a chance, you'll really enjoy it.)

Memories

I stole this from Brittney Bell - I think it's such a fun idea. Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

How To . . . The Dark Knight

HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY GO TO THE 3:15 am SHOWING OF

THE DARK KNIGHT

and live to tell about it:

1. Work extra hard on Thursday so you can take Friday off.

2. Go to the store and stock up on treats such as: Red Vines, Mambas, Donuts, String Cheese, Charleston Chew Mini's, Scooby Doo Fruit Snacks, Bottled Water, Reeses Pieces, Juice, Peanut M&M's, Junior Mints and plenty of Coke.

3. Have Chester make a delicious meal of Spaghetti for everyone.

4. Watch the old Batman Cartoon series as a warm-up.

5. Blow up the air mattress to ensure the maximum amount of comfort possible.

6. Watch Batman Begins for the 15th time in your life.

7. Read a book.

8. Watch your friends play the X-box while you're pretending to read your book.

9. Sleep for about 2 hours.

10. Wake up after 20 minutes because you're so freaking excited to see this movie.

11. Sit around talking with your bestest friends because they can't sleep either.

12. Eat 4 mini donuts for "breakfast".

13. Wake everyone else up 2 minutes before you are supposed to leave.

14. Leave 10 minutes late because you should have jumped on Nick a little harder to wake him up.

15. Have Chester drive because he can make up for the 10 minutes we just lost. Seriously Nick - come on!

16. Meet the rest of the crew in line at the Imax theatre.

17. Sit down and hand out the treats that are still intact.

18. Wait patiently for your ginormous coke that Nick is standing in line for.

19. Get extremely pissed off when Nick comes back empty handed!

20. Get even more pissed off when you find out it was your brother's fault that you don't have a coke in your hands right now because he ratted Nick out for being a butt-er.

21. Bribe the usher to go get you a coke. (Because someone told you that they won't let you back in after the movie starts, and you don't want to miss the trailers. They are, after all - the best part.) (Tangent - did you know I would be perfectly content watching a whole 2 hours of previews instead of an actual movie - Love them!)

22. Turn red out of embarrassment when the usher laughs at you and says of course they let you back in.

23. Go stand in the 5 person long line that was "too long" to stand in according to Nick.
24. Wait impatiently, tapping your foot, while the impossibly large man in front of you gets the items he ordered then proceeds to flirt with the cashier instead of getting the hell out of the way. The trailers man! The trailers!

25. Order 2 large cokes, 1 large diet coke, and a large water. Sheesh! I am such a good sister.

26. Balance 2 large cokes, 1 large diet coke, a large water and your purse in your arms while you walk down the hall to the Imax theatre, completely scared that at any moment you are going to trip over something and spill the 40 gallons of beverages you just purchased.

27. Say thank you 12 times to the usher who was kind enough to get all of the Imax theatre doors for you.

28. Distribute the drinks.

29. Realize that you just missed the Harry Potter trailer. Damn it!

30. Get situated and comfy in your seat.

31. Spend the next 2.5 hours completely stunned and unable to blink.

32. Emerge from the hot, dark theatre to the fresh, light morning. (This was the first time in my life that I entered a theatre while it was dark and came out to see the sun.)

33. Meet up with your friends so you can gush about your favorite parts.

34. Admit that even though you love the Joker and that Heath Ledger should definitely get an Oscar nom for this role, you actually loved Harvey Dent / Two Face more! Weird!

35. Drive home.

36. Sleep.

37. Dream about the next Batman.

The End. You have now learned how to successfully go to the 3:15 in the am showing of The Dark Knight and live to tell about it.

High School Confession

I'm working on a super funny story right now and it's actually quite long, so for my 3 loyal readers, here is a little something to laugh about in the meantime.

I've decided that I was quite weird in high school. I didn't know it at the time because, well, at the time I was just me. I didn't really have an identity at all. I wasn't one of those extremely noticeable weird kids, I didn't mutilate myself or scream out profanities to get a reaction. No, I was just quietly weird. One of the silliest things I did was during my Junior year, I carried around an Elmo head purse. I didn't care that it was meant for toddlers, or that it would occasionally disrupt class because it would laugh like all other Tickle Me Elmo's, when you pushed a button under the chin. I didn't care that a few people would laugh at me, because that wasn't what I was going for. I carried it around, to and from school everyday because I loved it. The Elmo head purse was fun and even though I know it's 100% weird I kind of wish that I still had that old Elmo. I lost it to my darling niece, McKaleigh. I vividly remember the day that my devil-of-an-ex-sister-in-law told me I was too old to have an Elmo purse and she took it from me. I'm sure I'd be okay with that if McKaleigh still had it, but knowing my devil-of-an-ex-sister-in-law she probably threw it away after a couple of days. Tear.

Now I would like to know some of the weird things you did in high school. Don't hold back, we're all friends here. :)

Lincoln and the 4th of July

This year my Fourth of July Holiday was extremely exciting! Early Friday morning Mary and I caught a ride with Chet's dad and sister up to Bear Lake to meet Nick, Chet and the whole Vernon/Jones family. We had an entire weekend of boating, lounging around the cabin and basking in the sun planned for us. We arrived at the cabin around 11:00 or so and were just getting settled in when both Mary and I received a text message from our sister, Amy, wishing us a Happy 4th of July and oh, by the way, she's going into labor. Now, I specifically remember telling Amy she was not allowed to have her baby this weekend because I would be 3 hours away and without a vehicle to rush back in case it did happen. So we were a little shocked to get this message. Immediately after reading it, Mary and I started running through scenarios on how we could get back to the Salt Lake Valley without a mode of transportation and without disrupting the Vernon/Jones family vacation. It seemed virtually impossible. So we settled on the fact that we would not be able to attend the birth of beautiful new nephew. :( We did, however, keep in constant contact with all of those who were in attendance and we were able to see pictures of little Lincoln Jay Potter. After that first day of intense anticipation, Mary and I settled down and were able to enjoy the weekend. We went boating and ps - I actually wake boarded! I'm not going to tell you how long I was up. All you need to know is that I got up on my first try, twice! Yeah, I'm a big deal. :) Saturday night Nick taught me how to play the Jones version of Hand & Foot. I feel like my eyes have been completely opened to this amazing new life of playing Hand & Foot in teams. It's absolutely wonderful!! I will never go back to the boring way of Every-Man-For-Himself Hand & Foot. And, if any of you would like to play with me, please let me know because I will do everything in my power to make it happen as quickly as possible.

Another one of the best things about vacationing at the Jones cabin is the delicious food! Saturday night Norval made the most wonderful chicken I have ever tasted in my entire life! At this time, I would like to give a shout out to Norval Jones, he is currently my favorite Grandpa. It's true! I'm not just saying that because of his chicken cooking skills. Norval is also very spunky and just a joy to be around.

The whole weekend was great! In fact, I think this was the most enjoyable 4th of July ever! I really didn't want to leave on Sunday, but I had some motivation. I had to hurry home so I could hold this little guy.

Lincoln Jay Potter

Born July 4, 2008

6 lbs 13 oz

21 inches

Colt and the Pirates

I went to see Colt play baseball tonight, and let me tell you this - that boy is one talented little baseball player! I'm not exaggerating when I say he is definitely the best on his team.

Colt hitting a triple!

Running home to score.
Colt playing first base.
The fans.

Way to go Pirates!!!