Pioneer Day, Girls Night & Christmas in July!

Random title...I know...but it's been a busy week!

Pioneer Day was a BLAST! Sosha invited the whole family up to her house in Roy for the day. We decided there was no better way to commemorate the pioneers' arrival to the Salt Lake Valley then to take the kids to the...Dinosaur Park! :) After a quick pit stop at KFC/A&W for a mashed potato bowl (a pioneer favorite, I'm sure!), we were on our way.

Connor was so excited! He LOVES dinosaurs "more than anything" (direct quote). As we were pulling into the parking lot, he was saying, "I can't believe we're here! This is going to be AWESOME!" You would have thought we had just pulled into the parking lot at Disneyland! But, I have to admit...it is a pretty cool park! They have dinosaur statues all over that you can walk around and see, plus they have a dinosaur playground and (my favorite) the "education center". It's a building where the kids can take a break from the heat and color pictures of dinosaurs, play dinosaur computer games, and build their own dinosaur out of wooden bones. It was pretty cool. Connor made sure that we walked the entire park so that we could see each and every dinosaur statue. As we walked, I was amazed at how much he already knew about dinosaurs. As we would get to a new dinosaur, Connor would say, "Whoa! There's an Allosaurus!" or "Hey look! There's a Spinosaurus!" He knew so many of their names! Maybe we have a "Ross" on our hands (if you're a fan of "Friends" you'll understand what I'm talking about)!

Aiden's favorite part was probably the cartoon stand-ups with the heads cut out (see picture). He ran from one to the next, sticking his head through the hole, posing for the picture, & then running to the next one. It was hilarious! He also liked the dino playground and cried when we finally had to pull him away from it!

Overall, it was an "AWESOME" (as Connor put it) way to celebrate Pioneer Day, even though it was about 95 degrees outside & the humidity was through the roof! Now THAT will make you grateful for what the pioneers went through!

After we had had our fill of dinosaurs for the day, we headed back to Sosha's house for a barbecue. It was great! Sosha made this really yummy grilled chicken, plus we had corn on the cob (my favorite...and probably the only vegetable I eat willingly). On top of that, a few thunderstorms moved through about 30 minutes before we were planning to eat & it cooled everything off perfectly! Kristin, or "Sewage" as we lovingly refer to her, even decided to grace us with her presence! Wow! :) The kids thought it would be a fun idea to eat on the trampoline, but that just ended up being a huge mess once they realized,

"Hey...when we jump, our food goes flying! That's pretty cool!" Oh well, at least they had fun! Overall, it was a great day!

The day after Pioneer Day was Girls Night! This month, we had a "Girls Night Boutique" at Tammy Camp's house. She has her own vinyl lettering machine, so we were able to order whatever saying or name we wanted, in the font we wanted, for about half the price it would cost you anywhere else! She also had one of her friends come to sell the jewelry that she makes. And, if shopping wasn't good enough, we also had dinner & a chocolate fountain...talk about a girl's dream come true! I ended up ordering some vinyl lettering for Connor's room that is pretty cute. It's the definition of a boy. It says, "Boy, n: a noise with dirt on it". I thought that was appropriate for Connor. I think I'll put it above his closet doors. I also ordered some really cute red crystal earrings from Tammy's friend. They are darling!

And, last but not least, I got a Christmas present in July. Last Christmas, my mom ordered me some fabric to make two more pillows for my living room. Well, being the busy girl that she is, she just got them made & brought them out to me. To tell you the truth, I think I had almost forgotten about them...and that made it really fun! It really was like Christmas in July!

So, that was our exciting week! I hope everyone is having a fun summer! --Lindsay

Who Do YOU Think I Look Like?

Today, while filling in on the morning show, we had a whole conversation about which celebrities we look like. Here were my top three:

Alison Harmelin: She is a reporter for CBS New York. You probably see her stories on Channel 2 all the time. This is how this whole conversation about celebrity look-alikes began. We were going into a commercial break & teasing what was coming up next. Alison came on and teased her story, then I came up right after to tease the weather forecast. She was wearing red & so was I...plus her hair was flipped out a little bit. Everyone was laughing that it looked like the same person teasing two different stories.

Lara Spencer: Lara is the co-host of The Insider. (KJZZ at 5:00 pm) She also co-hosts Antique Roadshow on Channel 7, and she can be seen regularly on the Rachael Ray show too. I actually modeled my new hairstyle after hers, and since then I have had so many people come up tell me that I look like her. I don't know though, she has a much better nose than I have!

Last but not least, is Farrah Fawcett (circa 1979). This is Ron Bird's choice. In fact, he started calling me Farrah a few months ago when I cut my hair...and now the entire morning crew affectionately refers to me in the same way. I think I answer more to Farrah than Lindsay when I work this shift! Now, if only I had her butt!





So, what do you think? Alison, Lara or Farrah? --Lindsay

When was the Last Time You Kissed a Gorilla?

For Aiden, it was 5 days ago. Last Saturday, we went to the zoo. (I'm just finally getting a few minutes to write about it). Mike's MBA program at the U does a friends & family day once a year...to say, "thank you for being such a good wife and allowing your husband to be gone two to three days out of the week...leaving you as the sole parent & (more importantly) sole diaper-changer for about half the week"...but I'm not bitter or anything. Anyway, back to the zoo. Aiden's favorite was definitely the gorillas (as can be seen by the above picture). As soon as we got to the window to look into their area, Aiden said,
"Monk!" (his version of
"monkey") and ran right up to the window that a gorilla was leaning against & kissed it! We, along with the folks around us, got a good laugh out of it. Finally, about 5 minutes...and 6 kisses later...we were able to pry him away from the "Monk". Connor's favorite wasn't an animal, it was the bronze statues of the animals. Every time he saw one, he would say, "Dad! Take a picture of me on this rhino" (or tiger, or gorilla, etc.) He also liked the elephant statue that squirted water out of his trunk. He would say, "Gross! That elephant just sneezed boogers all over those kids!" and then laugh like there was no tomorrow. What is it about bodily fluids that is so funny to little boys? I'll never understand! I was very impressed with Hogle Zoo though. I haven't been there since I was a little girl, but it was so much better then I remember it! As you walk around the zoo, they have docents waiting along the path with different animals that the kids can touch & pet. The kids got to pet a baby alligator & a giant African cockroach. You would have thought Aiden had died and gone to heaven! He is our animal lover & he just thought it was so cool to be able to "play" with them! We also really liked the Ghost of the Bayou (a white alligator). It took us back to our Louisiana days on Avery Island, remembering the time when Mike tapped his foot on the top of a stream & three hungry alligators almost attacked him! Ahhh...good times! After baking in the 102 degree heat for a few hours, we decided to cool off & eat some lunch. We got a little 12" pizza for $12 and shared it. Don't you love concession stands? But, at that point, I probably would have paid $50 for it. It was such a nice break from the heat to sit there undercover, with one of those little things that sprays mist & eat our greasy pizza, bottled water & creamies! At the end of the day, however, I was really wondering what was going through my mind earlier in the day when I decided to wear WHITE capris to the zoo. I had orange creamie on one leg, pizza grease on the other, and several brown nasty spots all over (I don't even want to think what they may have been). All in all, it was a great day! And, I'm happy to report that my capris survived! Thank you Era! --Lindsay

A Fabulous Fourth!

I love the Fourth of July! It is such a fun day! What's not to love about parades, barbecues, & fireworks? Like most families, we have our Fourth of July traditions that we do every year. We always start the day bright & early...as in 5:45 am! Yikes! There's just a lot that we try to cram into 18 hours, so starting early is a must! This year, we met my parents at McDonald's for a pre-parade breakfast. Every year, we go to a different one...trying to find one that isn't jam-packed with people. However, each is the same...crowded with more people than I'm sure the Fire Marshall would like! Anyway, my Egg McMuffin was delicious...nothing more patriotic than a breakfast sandwich made with an ENGLISH muffin!

After breakfast, we headed down to Provo for the Grand Parade. Our tradition is to go to the corner of 1st South & University Avenue & stand behind the crowds of people who have been camping out on the street corner for the past 48 hours. We usually get bored after about an hour & we work our way over to the bizarre to do a little shopping. However, this year, as we took our usual spot behind the masses, some people offered us their seats! Apparently, their friends had some better seats & they decided to go sit with them. So, for the first time in who-knows-how-many-years, we SAT DOWN for the parade! You wouldn't believe how nice it is to watch a parade from the comforts of a camp chair! It was so nice in fact, that we stayed for the entire parade! I think that was a first for us! Afterwards, we made our usual trip over to the bizarre & then decided to go to Gandolfo's for lunch while the rest of the multitude turned into an angry mob in the post-parade traffic.

After lunch, we went back to my parents house. The kids (I'm including three grown men in this group as well) changed into their swimsuits for an afternoon of H2O! They had fun playing in a circle sprinkler, the slip n' slide & "playing Star Wars with their 'Hans Solo' water guns" (at least that's how Connor explained what they were doing). After everyone had had their feel of surf & sun, everyone came inside and got dressed. The guys then went and raced go-carts for awhile, then came back & switched places with the girls so that we could have some child-free time. My mom, Ashlee & I went to the mall & shopped for awhile...because, as any girl with a cute pink or green credit card will tell you, there is NOTHING more patriotic than supporting the national economy! What? We don't want to go into another recession! We were just supporting that cause!

After helping out the market & getting a flat tire, which my dad came and fixed, we went back to my parents' house for our annual barbecue. We munched on hamburgers, hot dogs, my mom's famous potato salad (which Mike would probably give his right arm for), baked beans, chips & dip, veggies & dip, fruit, etc. It was awesome! In fact, everything tasted so good that I only ended up eating half my burger. I filled up on everything else! It was some good food!

And, what better way to end our celebration of America's heritage than with some fireworks! But, here's a question. When did it become a tradition that, in order to celebrate our patriotism, we shoot off CHINESE fireworks? I don't know...doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but they sure are fun! Anyway, Ashlee & Greg had bought some fireworks & we were still trying to get rid of our supply of "I promise they're completely legal, officer" Wyoming fireworks from a few years ago. Mike & Greg were the master of ceremonies at our "fireworks spectacular"...which is basically a nice way of saying they were a couple of grown men acting like 12-year-olds that just got their hands on a box of kitchen matches! There were a few times that I was seriously fearful for my life & the life of my children! But, everyone did escape without serious injury.

So that was our 4th! We hope yours was just as eventful! --Lindsay p.s. I took the music off the blog. It was getting annoying to me, so I'm SURE it was annoying to the rest of you!

June's Girls Night (Six Days Late)

Okay, okay, okay...here it is girls! I realize that girls night was almost a week ago, but I do have a good reason for not writing about it sooner. There aren't 25 hours in the day...which is what I would have needed the past week to have a second of extra time. That, and the fact that I left my camera at Braza Grill! Yes, yes...I left it on the table when we walked out! However, I didn't realize I had left it until yesterday. I sat down at my computer to blog about our fabulous evening and thought, "Okay, where's my camera!" I scoured my house, top to bottom, and then realized I had left it at the restaurant. I called them up and, luckily, they had it. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only thing I forgot that night! More on that in a second.

First things first, a rundown of the evening. As you've probably already figured out, we went to Braza Grill this month. It was great! Especially the limeade...oh, and the endless supply of meat. I, however, didn't have my usually big appetite. Earlier that afternoon, I was STARVING! So starving, that I thought I was going to die! Really! I didn't want to eat anything, but I figured a few goldfish crackers wouldn't hurt...so I had a handful of them. What I didn't take into account was the fact (proven by nursery-aged children all over the country) that when goldfish crackers are submerged in water, they expand. I'm sure the same thing happened in my stomach. Oh well! The conversation was awesome as usual...and unusually clean! I think boobs only came up once...and I wasn't even the one to bring them up!

After about two hours, we finally pulled ourselves away from the tables and started heading out to the cars...leaving my camera in the process. But, I left something much more important as well. We all piled into the two cars (Mindy's & mine). However, people switched up seats a little bit, so no one really knew who was in which car. My car was the first to leave the parking lot, but as Mindy was pulling out, she noticed a cute little pregnant girl running out of the restaurant. It was Chantele! We had forgotten Chantele!?! Apparently, she had gone to the bathroom right before we had decided to head out to the cars...and with all the seat-hopping that went on, no one noticed she wasn't there. I was SOOOOOOOOOO glad that Mindy saw her as she was pulling out, but still felt bad, none the less.

So, I guess it was a night of forgetfulness, with losing Chantele & my camera within minutes of each other. But, what's new? I swear I would leave my head if it wasn't attached! --Lindsay