My kids...all grown up:)

Its always fun to get together with my students from good ol Woodland Hills. They're all in their 20's now and some have kids of their own...payback time...lol. Really so good to see them!

Here's the "before"

Ok people, I thought I'd post a few "before" pics cuz I'm not quite ready for "after", still lots of boxes that need to be gone through and put in storage. And the DP's were brought by friends who helped out. lol...only thing I had in the fridge for a few days.

Catching up with friends...

It was fun to have Robyn and her family in town for a few days. We had lunch at Cafe' Rio...yum, and then just hung out for a bit. Cant believe her kids are so big. Love you guys!

Family, family, and...

In September many of the George family gathered in Kanosh for Grandma's funeral. It was a lot of fun to see cousins I hadn't seen for many years. So many had growing families. Steph, MaryAnn and I sang and the service was very nice. Being in Kanosh brought back lots of memories of playing baseball in the park, BBQ's up the canyon, riding horses, getting treats at the store, etc. Lots of fond memories of family and summers in Kanosh.

More family...

Kanosh

Friends

Melissa came to town in July and a bunch of us got together. I know this is old but I'm trying to catch up:) We had a fun time. Its always good to get the old crew together.

Fun with the fam...July 2009

Here are a few pictures from my trip home in July. Unfortunately I was not good about taking pictures so most of them ended up on other peoples cameras:)

pretty sky

Just a random picture I thought was pretty

Flat

I'm not a stressful person in general. I work, try to have a social life and take time for myself. But there are a few things that make me pretty much stop functioning...the dentist and car trouble. On Monday I had my car in the shop for some normal maintainance. Though this was not extremely stressful, I still have to figure out how to manage rides to and from in the middle of the day when most people are working. Then there's that lingering fear that when I show up to get my car the mechanic will say, sorry but we had to replace EVERYTHING and its going to cost you $1,000,000,000.00 :) Luckily mondays encounter with the shop went well.

Then Tuesday I got a flat tire! And it must be noted I replaced all 4 tires only last month. I was super lucky to be pulling into work after lunch so at least I wasnt stranded. Again, my stress level shoots through the roof. I have to be in court all afternoon, I dont really have "people" to call to fix my flat and I dont have time to try and figure out if my roadside assistance will do it. Luckily for me I work with a bunch of great people. Two of the guys in my office came into court when they heard and asked for my keys so they could change the tire. Then my supervisor called her husband, who loves tires. He told me where to go and who to talk to to get it fixed, and if I had any problems he'd come get my car tomorrow and take it in himself (I've never met the guy). And as always, Tracey and her husband were right there willing to help me with whatever I needed.

So in the end I guess I do have "people"! And for those of you who have ever helped someone on the side of the road or in whatever other little capacity, know that for some of us this is a huge deal and we appreciate you. All those random acts of service do not go by unnoticed!!!

Demolition Derby baby....haha

My brother-in-law (Nate) would be so proud. So one of my friends got tickets to the derby here in West Jordan. Who knew they even did that here? I'm truely living on the "west side"...just kidding. We had tons of fun and I would totally go again!

Arts Festival

I love walking around the Arts Festival. So many beautiful things...pottery, art, music, glass art. So many beautiful things I wish I could afford! I love walking around people watching and window shopping (ok there were no windows:)

Do You Remember the Time....

I'm not really a person that defines moments of my live with music, but if I think back over the years I can remember many times Michael Jackson's music was on the forefront of the pop culture that defines my generation. I was in the 4th or 5th grade when Thriller came out. I wasnt into pop music but remember the kids talking about Billy Jean, and the Thriller video that was new to MTV (back in the original days of Music Television when it still had videos:) Then kids started wearing the jackets with the zippers and the sequined gloves. Again, I was never really on the band waggon but it was pop culture after all. There was "We are the World" and that weird Wizard of Oz movie. In my teen years there was Bad and in college Black or White was the rage. I even remember Laura doing a Thriller routine in High School that I thought was so cool. Down to the present, this past year I attended Thriller at Halloween and it was amazing fun.

I guess the purpose of this post is that its interesting to think of the impact one person can have on the world. He wasnt all that important to me personally, but I recognize how much he contributed to music, dance, and basically all forms of entertainment. Now with his passing, he will go on to become an icon the likes of Marilyn, Elvis and James Dean.

Happy Birthday to Me...

I've never been a big birthday person. But as I've gotten older I guess I just figure my birthday gets to be about me:) And the longer it lasts the better. So here are a few of the things I did this week to pamper myself!


Haircut...much needed:)


Soccer Game...just for fun


Massage...always a must when pampering

Pedicure...everybody needs one now and again

All in a Day's Drive

So one of the things I love about living in Utah is the mountains. I am forever going on drives up the canyon and just enjoying the nature that is so close to my home. For Memorial Day I drove up through Park City and down through Heber to Provo, then on down to Springville and Mapleton. Here are a few pictures from my drive...



Jordanelle...I love the clouds. The picture doesn'd do them justice.


Coming up behind Timpanogas there are numerous beautiful views of this mountain. This one was taken while I was driving, through the passenger side window:)




The cabin...dont remember all the stories but I know its old:)




The House in Mapleton. There were flowers and the trees are so much bigger than I remember...ah the memories


And last but not least, I attempted to track down Granny & Grandad's grave sites. I was on my mission for both of their funerals so I had no frame of referance. Its really a bigger cemitary than it looks like. So somewhere here I paid my respects to two amazing rolemodels. And isn't Mapleton Mountain pretty in the background:)

Dating...my bad

Those of you who've read my dating posts in the past know I've had a few adventures, some good and some bad. Well last night I gave a guy a chance to tell his friends and family that I was a totally lame date. I tried to make it up to him but lets be honest, the damage was done.

So here's the story...Random boy, we'll call him Bob (not his name) and I were meeting at a park to take a walk and chat and get to know each other. (Tangent...for those of you who haven't dated in the past few years, this is a typical no strings, cheap, random encounter for on-line daters. Public enough in case he's a freak and the scenery is enjoyable) Anyway, moving on, I drove up and parked my car next to his and got out. Greetings were casual and typical...smiles, nice to meet ya, hug, etc. I had my purse on my shoulder but had not shut the door to my car. After chatting for a few minutes I threw my purse in the car and shut the door. Realizing at that moment that my keys were in my purse and I had locked the doors. Thus my purse, phone, keys, etc. were safely locked inside my car while my date and I were outside it.

I NEVER DO THIS! NOT EVER!!

I know what you're thinking, great first impression...lol. At that moment I was mortified. I had a spare key at home, 20 min away, but wasnt even sure I could get in the house. My phone was in the car so I couldnt call anyone, and I had only met poor Bob 5 minutes ago. Luckily he was super sweet and drove me home to get my extra keys. Fortunatly I knew where they were, my roommate was home and we got back to my car safe and sound. Surprisingly he was not totally turned off and we had good conversation during the drive. What a great date I am!:) So, jokes aside...we all have stories and sometimes we provide others with them as well.

Fun at Steph's

Cookie dough...always yummy! And are't the little ones cute:)

Beautiful!

Beware of Spell Check

This article made me giggle. As a former teacher and occasional grammar corrector I had to share!

PROVO -- It was a bad day for Brigham Young University's student-run newspaper.
Monday's edition of The Daily Universe ran a photo of several leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at this weekend's General Conference. A caption below the photo read, in part, "… the Quorum of the Twelve Apostates…" instead of Apostles.
The paper apologized for the mistake and gathered up as many of the 18,000 copies that it could. It attributes the mistake to a spell-check error made by a copy editor.

Dating...just one more thing

So today I had a guy call me a pig. "How dare he" you say! Well I'm sure he has a sweet spirit and meant well. In an email he compared me to the pig in Charlotte's Web. I must admit I've never actually read the book and I'm certain the pig is an amazing little pig. That being said, this guy probably meant well when he quoted something Charlotte said about the pig having a radiant glow. Now I realize his intention was to tell me I was radiant or something along those lines, but I must note that he was still comparing ME to a PIG!!! Will someone please help the single men out there understand that under NO circumstances is this a recommended route to whooing women.

Baby Mia!

I was going to post so cute baby girl cartoon or a pink stork or something but here is the real thing. I cant believe Steph already has pictures posted. Way to go Supermom (and Dad)

Dating

I hesitate to post much on here about my dating adventures. Mostly they're not all that interesting or they're too personal. But yesterday I had one of those experiences where I had to ask..."is this really happening?" The story begins a week ago when I started chatting with this guy on line who, for the purposes of this story, we'll call...Bob:). I use the term 'chatting' loosely, mostly we ended up arguing. He'd ask me a few too many personal questions about my body type and I'd tell him to go find someone else. Or he'd get upset when I wasn't available to go out at the drop of a hat. I told him to plan something or, once again, he could go find someone else to bother. Oddly enough he didn't go away.

Finally yesterday I agreed to get together for dessert/hot chocolate/whatever. He told me it would be later in the evening since he was working on a project. Now, to me later is 8, maybe 9. I guess its my bad for not clarifying because he wasn't ready until 10. And at that point Bob was still asking me what we should do and where we should go. (Let me take this time to interject that there's nothing more annoying than a date that has no plans!) Keep in mind I've still never met this guy and now I'm driving off into the night to meet up with an stranger. But have no fear, I'm well practiced in the art of on-line dating at this point and we're meeting in a public place.

Moving on...as I'm driving into town to meet him I get a phone call. Bob's on the other line telling me he just got in a car accident. My initial thought was he's a jerk and he's bailing on me by making up the car crash story. Sadly for him it was all true and he's probably gonna have to get a new car. But I get ahead of myself. So, once I figure out he's really serious I inquire as to what I should do now, go back home and we'll try again another time, etc. He still wants me to come and since I'm already on my way, I continue. As I'm driving up to the accident I see several police cars (no other cars are involved, he hit a barrier or something, no injuries or anything else, just a banged up car) I'm seriously laughing because I cant believe I'm coming to meet this guy at the scene of an accident. That's definitely a first and very memorable (not)date. He ends up getting a ticket for reckless driving and after standing around awkwardly while the cops deal with the situation, I drive him home. Keep in mind he still has to go tow his car. Oh and I almost forgot to mention, as he was getting out of my car he said, "you are cute"...as if it was ever in question! Seriously, seriously!

So an hour and a half later I'm on my way back home. At this point I'm certain Heavenly Father has a sense of humor and wondering if I'm the star of my own little version of Punk'd. For those of you who are single, laugh with me. For you married ones, be grateful you only have one person to figure out and deal with. My options are still endless and that's looking more like a black hole right about now than a starry eternal bliss:)